Free Grooverider a.k.a. Mr. Raymond BinghamTo: Government of Dubai
Mr. Raymond Bingham, the celebrity Disk Jockey commonly known as "Grooverider" has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates by the possession of a small amount of the drug Cannabis and Dvd's of pornography. This country is well known for its high economic development, but has also been starting to be questioned not about its social and cultural values but about the procedures used in order to enforce them. This questioning has been increasing in the last years and now it reaches Europe making the European society, which has evolved the law enforcement procedures, shocked at the exaggerated strength of the penalties to victimless crimes. The crime that Raymond Bingham committed is indeed a punishable crime although it has no victim at all, the amount of cannabis which he had in his possession was not enough for more than one person, this makes the possibility of the cannabis that was being carried into UAE being for exchange completely remote. In these cases where there is no victim and the infraction is related to cultural divergences we believe that the penalty should be enforced in the country of one's origin which is the most efficient way of applying the most adequate penalty for the acused's cultural context. We hope that the UAE will continue to be successful in enforcing their laws in the future but we also hope that the penalties that were created for this enforcement will always be applied considering the existence or not of a victim and the good or bad will of the defendant considering his or her physical and psychological condition. MR. Nath, the events promoter that hired Mr Raymond Bingham stated that he had sent a fax to Mr Bingham explaining the Laws of Dubai, as we don't know if this is true or if it was received, we interpret these statements as a self-protective effort by Mr Nath in order to assure his reputation before the UAE's society. Mr Nath statements may constitute a coward action that could affect Mr. Bingham's legal situation in a harmful manner and there could be already a strong rejection of Mr. Nath's activities by the international artistic community as a consequence. The UAE is a country with immense tourism and we understand that there must be efficient law enforcement in order to keep the peaceful environment there lived, but we also understand that this mediative case can alter the Occidental perception of UAE and distort the peaceful reputation to a reputation of oppression. The UAE has its own sovereignty and the legitimacy of enforcing its laws through the manner the UAE have determined but must also have in consideration that some forbidden practices might be completely cultural and natural in other countries that are increasingly closer because of globalization and that this divergence separates our cultures and societies when having such strong penalties for these types of situations. Please, in the name of all the undersigned, proceed to a deportation of Mr. Raymond Bingham as soon as possible.
