Arab Traveler and His Wife Hide Their Baby in Bag to Enter UAE

The منوعات / munawa3at (miscellaneous) section of Al-Quds Al-Arabi usually has some entertaining stories. You're trying to read the serious news, and you get distracted by some tantalizing story with a picture that steals your attention. This story is the perfect example:

Photo Al-Quds Al-Arabi. (God knows where they find these photos)

A man and his wife tried to hide their baby inside a suitcase in order to get into the UAE. They were flying into Sharjah airport and didn't have a visa for their son. How old was the kid? 5 months old. The parents were arrested and charged with attempting to enter their son into the UAE illegally. In addition, the parents were charged with putting their son's life in danger (due the harmful effects of x-ray and metal detectors on infants). According to the story, the mother claimed that she agreed to put their baby in the suitcase only after her husband convinced her that it would not harm the baby.

As usual, the most interesting part of this story can be found in the comments section. Most of the commentors condemned what the parents did, but even more were quick to mention motivating factors. Almost all of the commentors criticized the UAE immigration authorities:

فعل شنيع حقا ولكن الاشنع منه تلك الدول التي تحولت الى اداة لظلم الاقارب ....ان يستصدر تاشيرة لحفيده وحتى الابن ايستطيع زيارة اهله المقيمين قبل ولادة وزير الداخلية او المسئول الذي يعتمد على المزاج في اتخاذ القرار.
 - One noted : "An ugly act, but even uglier is are those countries that...give a visa to a grandson or the son, and their parents can't visit them, and it all depends on the mood of who is making the decision."

لماذا يحتاج هذا الطفل أو أبيه الى تأشيرة، أليس هو عربي. اذا كنت مقيم في اوروبا فلا تحتاج الى تأشيرة الى معظم دول اوروبا. أنا سافرت الى الأمارات قبل خمس سنوات وحصلت علي التأشيرة في المطار لأني أحمل الجنسية الألمانية ولم تكن معي جنسيتي الأصلية- الفلسطينية
- Another noted: "Why does the kid need a visa to visit, isn't he an Arab? If you live in Europe you don't need a visa for most of the European countries. I traveled to the Emirates 5 months ago and got a visa at the airport because I have German citizenship, and I didn't present my original citizenship, which is Palestinian."

هذا الرجل قام بهذا العمل بسبب قسوة قوانين دول الخليج و نظام الكفاله الجائر فيها .لو ان الانسان له حقوقه في تلك اللمالك لما اضطرت هذه الاسره الى محاولة تهريب ابنها و تعريضه للخطر. ليت دول الخليج تكون اكثر لينا مع العرب و تساويهم بالاوربيين على الاقل و هو دخول البلاد بتاشيره تأخذ في المطار مثلا
Another noted: "This guy did this because of the harshness of laws in the Persian Gulf countries and the system of Kafala (system used to bring in migrant workers, requires every person to have an in-country 'sponsor' who monitors them). If people had their rights, they wouldn't be forced like this family to try and smuggle their kid and expose him to danger. I wish the Gulf countries would treat us more like Europeans at least, who get their visas at the airport."

مع كل أسف لا زلنا بعيدين عن الانسانية و المال لم ينفع. الامارات بلد هجرة و يجب أن تكون هناك حلول لمثل هذه الحالات الانسانية.
Another noted: "I'm sorry, but we are still far from humanitarianism here and money doesn't make a difference. The Emirates is a country of immigration, and they should have solutions to these types of humanitarian situations!"

لو كان عايش في فرنسا مثلا لكان لرضيعه بطاقة اقامة أوتوماتيكيا وكلن تحصل ابنه على كل الحقوق مثل أبيه تماما واحنا دائما ننتقد الاوربيين مع أنهم والله مقارنه بالخليج أحسن بكثييييييير
Another noted: "If  he [the kid] was living in France, for example, he would get a residency card automatically and he would have all of his rights just like his father...we always criticize Europeans, but really, compared to the Persian Gulf they are ALOT better."