Laleh Shahravesh: Woman branded a 'horse' by husband's ex on Facebook 'willing to drop case' after Dubai authorities detain British mother

'I am willing to withdraw this case to honour my husband's love for his daughter,' says Tunisian-born Samah Al Hammadi

A woman who reported her husband’s ex-wife to Dubai police because she called her a “horse” on Facebook has said she will drop the case after the British mother was arrested.

Laleh Shahravesh, 55, from Richmond, London, and her 14-year-old daughter Paris were detained in Dubai last month after they arrived in the Gulf state for the funeral of her ex-husband, who had died from a heart attack.

The homeless shelter worker is facing up to two years in jail and a £50,000 fine under the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) strict cyber crime laws over two comments she wrote on a wedding photo of her former partner and his new wife on Facebook in 2016.

In one post, she wrote in Farsi: “I hope you go under the ground you idiot. Damn you. You left me for this horse”.

The comments were posted from the UK after Ms Shahravesh found out her Portuguese husband of 18 years, Pedro Manuel Coreia Dos Santos, had remarried to Tunisian-born Samah Al Hammadi.

Ms Al Hammadi, who reportedly met Santos at the archery club she runs in Dubai, said she decided to make a formal complaint against Ms Shahravesh after allegedly being subjected to a year-long campaign of abuse.

She claimed Ms Shahravesh sent her a string of insulting emails and messages and even sent one to Santos’s boss at HSBC.

The 42-year-old told the Evening Standard: “She has been abusing him, sending emails, even to his boss in the bank, saying I am a b****, that I took him from her, that she doesn’t have money. He sent emails asking her to stop. It did not stop.”

She also defended Dubai’s strict cyber crime laws, which mean a person can be fined or jailed for an old social media post made before even entering the country.

British mother Laleh Shahravesh has been detained in Dubai after calling her ex-husband an "idiot" and his new wife a "horse" in comments written on Facebook in 2016. (Detained in Dubai)

However, despite saying she believed Ms Shahravesh deserved to be punished for the insults, Ms Al Hammadi said she was willing to withdraw the case.

She told Sky News: "One of the last messages [my husband] tearfully gave me before his death was that he deeply loved his daughter. I am willing to withdraw this case to honour my husband's love for his daughter."

Ms Shahravesh was married to Mr Santos for 18 years and they lived together in Dubai for eight months while he worked at HSBC before she returned to London with their daughter in 2016.

Her husband was reportedly due to join them in the UK once his work commitments were resolved, but she instead received divorce papers unexpectedly a few months later, according to campaign group Detained in Dubai.

The first she is said to have known of her ex-husband’s new marriage is when she opened Facebook and discovered photos of his wedding.

According to the campaign group, Ms Shahravesh has had her passport confiscated and has had to borrow thousands of pounds from her family to stay in hotels in Dubai, where she is due in court on Thursday.

She has reportedly lost her job at a homeless shelter and could also lose the flat she shares with her daughter, who was allowed to return home to the UK.

In a statement released through the group, she said: “I am terrified. I can’t sleep or eat. I have gone down two dress sizes because of the stress. And my daughter cries herself to sleep every night.

“We are so close, especially since her father left us and we only have each other. It breaks my heart to be kept apart from her.”

Radha Stirling, chief executive of Detained in Dubai, who is officially representing Ms Shahravesh, has called on Dubai ruler and UAE prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to release the British mother.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told The Independent its staff were supporting Ms Shahravesh and her family and that they were in touch with UAE authorities about her case.