Legal dispute facing Texan ‘Sassy Trucker’ in Dubai shows the limits of speech in UAE

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Houston woman known online as the “Sassy Trucker” has been stuck in Dubai for weeks after an altercation at a car rental agency. It’s the latest case showing the limits of speech in this skyscraper-studded city-state. The case against 29-year-old Tierra Young Allen comes as the seven sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates have rules that strictly govern speech far beyond what’s common in Western nations. A middle finger raised in a traffic dispute, a text message calling someone a name or swearing in public easily can spark criminal cases — something that foreign tourists who flock here may not realize until it is too late.