Dubai frees 'sex on the beach' Brits

A Dubai appeals court Tuesday freed two British citizens convicted of having sex on a public beach, sex outside of wedlock and assaulting a police office.

The court suspended three month jail terms against Michelle Palmer, 37, and Vince Acors, 34, and the pair will now be deported from the country, their lawyer Hassan Matar said.

"The verdict concerning their expulsion remains valid," Matar said. "There are only a few routine procedures to complete for their departure."

In a highly publicized case the two were arrested in July after a police officer caught them having sex on a public beach, despite initially letting them off with a warning, a drunk Palmer assaulted the officer and called him a "f***ing Muslim ****."

In spite of Dubai's cosmopolitan mix of people the city still adheres to certain Islamic rules, including a ban on fornication, especially in public.

Palmer and Acors denied charges of having sex in public and committing public indecency, but admitted to being under the influence of alcohol when they were caught on Dubai's Jumeirah public beach in July.

In addition to the jail sentence and deportation, they were each fined 1,000 dirhams ($270) for drinking alcohol. Both had remained free on bail during the trial.

Palmer was sacked from her job as a publishing executive in the UAE following the case, while Acors was visiting Dubai at the time.

The case turned the spotlight on the lifestyle of the 120,000-plus British residents of the UAE, around 100,000 of whom live in Dubai, a bustling city state which hosts hundreds of thousands of Western residents and tourists.