Airline Crew in Dubai Jailed for Sexting

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Exchanging saucy text messages earned two Emirates Airline cabin crew a trip to jail, according to USA Today .

A 42-year-old flight attendant and her 47-year-old cabin services supervisor, both Indian, were convicted of "coercion to commit sin," the Dubai newspaper The National reported. They were sentenced to six months in jail and deportation by the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors in December.

The court claimed the SMS texts "fulfilled all the necessary angles of coercion to the commitment of sin," according to The National. An appeals court upheld that decision but cut their jail sentences in half and did away with the deportation order after deciding there was not enough evidence to prove they had extramarital relations.

USA Today reported that the case surfaced after the flight attendant's estranged husband sued her in 2009 claiming she was having an affair with the supervisor.

According to The National, the couple had been engaged in a divorce battle since 2007. Her husband gained sole custody of their 4-year-old son.

A telecoms provider turned the text messages over to the court in October 2008. Five months later, the flight attendant's husband filed a criminal complaint, saying she was having an affair and insulting Islam with her text messages.

The attendant and her supervisor claimed her sister sent him the messages, resulting in a perjury charge against her sister.

In a related case, The Globe and Mail reported that a British couple caught kissing in public in Dubai faces up to a month in mail for indecency after an Emirati mother said that her child saw them kiss. They were arrested in November on charges of kissing and touching each other intimately in public and consuming alcohol.