A flight attendant has been held in Dubai for more than a month after a private WhatsApp image was allegedly detected through active electronic surveillance.

Detention support group Detained in Dubai claims that the cabin crew member was arrested on March 8th and remains in custody, facing allegations linked to state security and public order under the UAE’s cybercrime laws.

According to a news story on the advocacy group’s website, the detained man had recently returned to Dubai after travel disruption.

He was woken by a loud explosion that shook his room and took a single photograph, posting it privately to colleagues on a WhatsApp group, to ask whether it was safe to leave for work.

The material, which showed smoke rising from a building following the March 2026 Iran-related incidents, had been shared only within a closed WhatsApp group of airline colleagues and was not publicly posted.

According to Detained in Dubai, authorities later stated he had been identified through “active electronic surveillance,” then asked him to attend a police station for what was described as a discussion before he was arrested.

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Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and founder of Due Process International, said the worker was reacting to what he believed was a dangerous situation rather than attempting to spread misinformation.

“This is not someone spreading misinformation or attempting to undermine the state. He simply shared an image privately with colleagues to ask if it was safe to go to work.”

Stirling warned that Dubai Police “have now explicitly confirmed they are conducting electronic surveillance operations capable of detecting private WhatsApp messages.”

“Individuals are being tracked, identified, and arrested not for public statements, but for private exchanges between colleagues.”

WhatsApp privacy concerns

Stirling also said that Meta’s messaging app needed to answer serious questions about privacy.

"Companies like WhatsApp must answer urgent questions about user privacy. If private communications can be detected and used as the basis for arrest by overreaching or hypersensitive states, users worldwide need clarity on how their data is being accessed.”

Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai

As soon as the strikes from Iran started in the city state, the UAE government warned that circulating “unverified information about wars, security, or national safety” could result in criminal penalties under the country’s cybercrime law.

Under the country’s laws it states that penalties may include detention or imprisonment in more serious cases, as well as fines ranging from $27,000 to $272,000.

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