Arsenal Community with former Arsenal stars Lauren and Robert Pires after winning the GayGooners Tournament

• YOU reported that LGBT Arsenal fans, the GayGooners, number over 600, more than any other LGBT fans group in the world (GayGooners are top of LGBT fans league, February 9).

Arsenal are sponsored by Emirates airline, a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is wholly owned by the government of Dubai’s Investment Corporation of Dubai.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is one of more than 70 countries where consensual, same-sex activity is a criminal offence. In the UAE the minimum penalty is one year in prison, where torture is common. Technically, under sharia law and yet to be implemented, there is the death penalty.

In October last year, it was reported that a Briton, Jamie Harron, faced three years in prison and had his passport seized because he accidentally touched a man’s hip. He had spent five days in prison, charged with moral indecency under Article 356 of the UAE Penal Code.

My advice to all LGBT Arsenal fans is to avoid visiting the UAE and to think carefully before continuing to support a football club with sponsorship links to such a nation.

DR H MAYNARD
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