Dubai, Where Homosexuality Is Punishable by Death, Is Kim Ogg’s “Dream City”
While delivering the keynote address at the inaugural World Police Summit in Dubai, Kim Ogg said, “I look at Dubai and I see the future. This is my dream city,” as Houston-based journalist Keri Blakinger first reported.
It’s one thing for an elected official to forsake the city that put them in office and refer to a city 13,000 miles away as their “dream city.” It’s another for that “dream city” to be an authoritarian police state where homosexuality is punishable by death and authorities torture activists.
In 2016, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg ran as a reformer with significant backing from criminal justice and community organizations in Houston.
Since assuming office, however, Ogg has done an about face and embarked on a crusade to massively expand the Harris County prosecutor’s office so that she can more efficiently prosecute low-level, non-violent misdemeanors.
On Monday, Ogg took an even darker turn when she described Dubai as her “dream city”.
She stated that, “The world leadership and law enforcements must support wise investments and social programs and partnerships such as seen here in Dubai – one of the safest cities in the world. I don’t see criminals here on the roads. I don’t see criminals robbing small business owners. I look at Dubai and I see the future. This is my dream city,”
For someone unfamiliar with the United Arab Emirates, this may seem like an innocuous thing to say – until you consider the UAE’s long and appalling history of brutal human rights abuses.
Here’s just a sample:
“All sexual relations [in the UAE] outside of heterosexual marriage are criminalized. Punishments include death, life in prison, floggings, fines, deportation, chemical castration, forced psychological treatments, honor killings, vigilante executions, beatings, forced anal examinations, forced hormone injections, and torture. Adultery and fornication are crimes punished with death, and a person convicted of homosexuality may also face charges of adultery if they have an opposite-sex spouse while having sexual relations with a person of the same sex. Homosexuality is illegal in the UAE, and is punishable by the death penalty under sharia law.” (Wikipedia)
“Scores of activists, academics, and lawyers are serving lengthy sentences in UAE prisons, in many cases following unfair trials on vague and broad charges that violate their rights to free expression and association.” (Human Rights Watch)
“Especially in cases purportedly related to state security, detainees were at serious risk of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, torture and ill-treatment, prolonged solitary confinement, and denial of access to legal assistance. Forced confessions were used as evidence in trial proceedings, and prisoners complained of overcrowded and unhygienic conditions and inadequate medical care.” (Human Rights Watch)
“Labor abuses persist, driven by an exploitative kafala (visa sponsorship) system, under which employers control migrant workers’ presence in the country. Low-paid migrant workers especially face serious abuses, most commonly unpaid and delayed wages. The Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed and amplified the ways in which migrant workers’ rights are violated. Tens of thousands of migrant workers faced massive unemployment and were left stranded in dire conditions without legal residencies. Many struggled with unpaid wages and wage theft, and were unable to pay rent or buy food.” (Human Rights Watch)
Ogg, billed by Outsmart Magazine as “America’s Top Gay Cop,” was a Republican until 2004. Ogg shifted to the Democratic party because of the Republican’s party’s opposition to gay marriage. Ogg’s own relationship of 37 years would be punishable by death in Dubai. Ogg nonetheless views Dubai’s law enforcement and public safety efforts as “an inspiration.”
“Dubai is an inspiration and I congratulate Dubai Police and Dubai Government and its leadership for their success in public safety. This government has made wise and well-planned investments in well-trained, well-staffed and well-executed policing. Dubai delivered what some in the world might call it an impossibility,” said Ogg.
We reached out to Ogg’s office to ask whether she believes these human rights abuses contribute to public safety in Dubai. We’ll update this post if we hear back.