A Houston, Texas, TikTok-influencer has been languishing in a Dubai jail over the last two months for committing the cardinal sin of… screaming in public. A big no-no in Dubai, I guess.

The incident took place when Tierra Young Allen, 29, and a friend, who was driving the pair in a rental car, had an accident while holidaying in the country.

According to Tierra’s mum, when an employee at the rental shop got “aggressive” with her, Tierra yelled back, and promptly found herself being arrested and hauled to jail.

According to Fox26 Houston, Tierra’s passport was confiscated and she now faces an even longer spell in prison after authorities obtained CCTV video of her raising her voice. Which I guess is an effective tactic when arguing with shop employees in America, but not so much in the Middle East.

Tierra’s mum says:

She is in jail for one reason and one reason alone, she raised her voice. In that country, a female is not even allowed to raise her voice. If she raises her voice it’s punishable by jail time.

I’m not sure if that’s genuinely the law over there, or whether the authorities just play it by ear, but you have to be smart enough to at least respect cultural norms in the countries you’re visiting, and that includes not having an American-style freak-out in broad daylight in Dubai. Obviously it’s not right that Tierra Young Allen has spent the last two months in a Dubai jail and is looking at even longer in prison, but at least it serves as a decent reminder on how to behave in Dubai for all the rest of us.

On the bright side, it’s done wonders for her TikTok account and she’ll have lots to talk about once she gets her phone and passport back. Or should that be if she gets her phone and passport back?