Whether you like it or not, we are all being watched. This is especially true when it comes to our online presence. The internet has now made it easier than ever for people to track your every move, no matter how mundane. As George Orwell famously wrote: “Big Brother is watching you.”
In some parts of the world, the extent to which your life is monitored is more unforgivable than others. Take Dubai for example, the country where strict cybercrime laws govern the nations net. Those found to be violating the restrictive laws can be faced with extortionate fines and jail time.
That is something that American-born fitness guru Jordan Branford learned the hard way when he was arrested for after posting a simple Instagram post.
Branford, who has lived in the clean-cut country since 2008, has been ordered to pay $68,000 or risk being sentenced to seven years in jail and deported, after he typed the word “b*tch” on a caption featured in his Instagram story.
The 44-year-old, who originally hails from Oregon, found himself in the unfortunate predicament after his estranged wife, Salma Ismail, filed a complaint against him for the use of the word “b*tch”.
“So I woke up today and heard the b**** made another case,” he said in the post, which has since been deleted, thought to be about his ex-wife who was suing him over their failed relationship.
Branford, who has over 25 years of experience in the fitness industry, is now facing the prospect of being locked up in one of Dubai’s most violent prisons as he struggles to gather the necessary funds to spare him from jail. This outcome will mean that the Instagram guru won’t be able to travel home to see his mother and 17-year-old son, Jadan.
His arrest is the latest tragic twist in the fitness guru’s battle with his ex-wife after their marriage began to disintegrate in 2017 when Ismail began to behave “in ways no spouse would accept,” Branford explains.
“I was working a lot of hours trying to build up my fitness business, American Fitness,” Branford said. “I really wanted to make a comfortable future for my beautiful son, Jadan. My friends and people I knew were coming to me every day with reports of my wife behaving in ways that no spouse would accept.”
“I didn’t want to believe these stories, but in the end I had to face the truth. Our relationship dissolved entirely and I moved out of our home,” he says.
Shortly afterward Ismail reportedly tried to sue him for thousands of dollars. “‘I was heartbroken,” Branford continues. “I know that when marriages end, it is often bitter, but she really tried to ruin me. And it seems that now she has succeeded.”
Despite Ismail being unable to prove that the word “b*tch” was used in reference to her, she is able to simply say that the word offended her. In Dubai, the word ‘b*tch’ is considered extremely offensive and those who use it are subject to criminal sanctions.
The prospect of getting away with this seem incredibly bleak, but we wish Branford all the best.
