Remembering Herve Jaubert

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, recently stated in its editorial that the burqa should be banned. Saamna justified its stand after a burqa-clad lady stole a baby from a civic hospital.

The burqa ban will continue to cleave the world. The ban in France and some other pockets of Europe has made this a global issue. The ban reminds me of a fascinating story that happened a couple of years ago. The story revolves around a French spy, a sensational escape from Dubai and a burqa.

Former French intelligence officer, Herve Jaubert Pierre, who claims he was wrongly indicted for embezzlement, fraud and sexual harassment in Dubai, did an e-mail interview with me. In the interview, he told MiD DAY that he was a navy officer at the French secret service, and after 15 years, resigned to set up a private enterprise in the US. In November 2004, after two visits to Florida, Sultan Bin Sulayem offered him to set up a submarine factory in Dubai.

Jaubert Herve's true story, a Frenchmanu00a0 escaping from Dubai in a burqa, proves the adage, fact is stranger than fiction

Herve moved there with his family and created Exomos, a Dubai World subsidiary and was appointed its CEO. Herve says, he was designing and building submarines for the leisure market.

According to Herve, Dubai's downturn had begun by 2006, and Dubai World started accusing Herve of weapons smuggling, sexual harassment and other crimes.u00a0 Herve knew he had to escape. In May 2008, on the eve of his escape, Herve claimed that he dressed in a burqa and escaped from a beach off Fujeirha, on a dinghy. Once he was out of the Dubai police radar, he switched to a bigger boat along with a companion and sailed to Mumbai.

For Herve, wearing a burqa was a perfect way of disguise as it helped in his initial part of escape.

Herve had said he chose India and Mumbai in particular, because India was the first country on his route out of the Arabsphere. He had chosen Mumbai because the French consulate is in Mumbai.

A couple of months after Herve's story appeared in this newspaper, he sent me an autographed version of a book about his escape called Escape From Dubai (he now lives in Florida). I think to myself, how ironical that France has banned the burqa. Herve, a Frenchman (though he was in Dubai) used the burqa to escape.

Now, it is even more ironical that Shiv Sena called for a burqa ban here, as Herve's escape route was from Dubai to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Herve's story, which is too long to recount here, proves the adage; fact is stranger than fiction.u00a0u00a0