Dubai: Two women were cleared on Thursday of kissing publicly in a restaurant after one of them contended that she had removed the mayonnaise off her friend’s cheek with her tongue.

In October, the Dubai Misdemeanours Court sentenced the Italian women to two months in jail after convicting them of committing a lewd act in public when they exchanged kisses in a food court. They were also handed a deportation order.

On Thursday, the Dubai Appeal Court overturned the women’s punishment and acquitted them after their lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi contended that law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly against his clients.

A man, who was eating with his friend at the mall’s food court, called up the police and claimed to them that he saw the women exchanging kisses in September.

When they showed up in court, the Italian suspects pleaded not guilty and firmly refuted the claimant’s story.

“We were not kissing bizarrely as the man claimed. My friend was eating and some mayonnaise spread out around her mouth. I used my tongue to remove the mayonnaise off her cheek … it happened spontaneously. We did not have any criminal intention,” defended one of the women.

The other women confirmed her counterpart’s statement.

Advocate Al Shamsi contended before the appellate court: “My clients were questioned in the presence of an unauthorised translator … this is an improper implementation of law enforcement procedures. Besides it was the security guards of the mall where the incident happened who apprehended my clients … this is also an illegal implementation of law enforcement procedures as they should have been detained by the police. As for what had happened in the food court, the two women did not commit a lewd act in public and they did not kiss. The prosecution witness gave ... an unrealistic description to what truly happened … he alleged that they kissed bizarrely for sometime. But one of my clients confirmed that she used her tongue to remove the mayonnaise that had spread around her friend’s [other client] mouth. What she did happened in a second or two … they behaved spontaneously and did not have any intention to incite any instincts.”

The suspects did not have any criminal intention to gesture indecently or immorally in public, the lawyer said.

In his defence argument, advocate Al Shamsi asked the court to acquit his clients, arguing that the prosecution witness’s statement was full of contradictions and lacked consistency.

Presiding judge Aysar Al Ebyari overturned the primary ruling (two months jail sentence) and acquitted the Italian women. The deportation order was also cancelled.

Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.