July 18, 2023
TikTok Influencer Detained In Dubai On Charges of Allegedly Screaming In Public
A vacation in Dubai for a Houston trucker-turned-TikTok influencer has turned into a nightmare.
Tierra Young Allen, has been detained in Dubai for almost two months. Her crime: screaming in public, Fox 26 Houston reports. Allen, 29, has been trying to get back home, but her mother, Tina Baxter, says her passport has been confiscated.
Baxter claims her daughter is in jail after she and a friend rented a car and got into an accident. When she went back to the rental car company for her ID, credit card, and other items, things went left.
“She found out she could only receive those items if she paid an undisclosed amount of money. She dealt with a very aggressive individual a young man there who was screaming at her,” Baxter said. “It also could result in prison time. So it’s very scary.”
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Community activist Quanell X is working with Baxter and her family to advocate for Allen to be returned to the United States.
He said Allen’s only crime was using her voice in Dubai, a country where women are primarily told to keep quiet. “She is in jail for one reason and one reason alone, she raised her voice,” Quanell X said. “In that country, a female is not even allowed to raise her voice. If she raises her voice it’s punishable by jail time.”
According to The Daily Beast, she could actually face prison time as Dubai authorities have surveillance video of her raising her voice.
This wasn’t Allen’s first time in Dubai. In November 2022, the influencer posted a video of her test driving a Mercedes-Benz truck. She says she was told she’d be the first female to ever drive a truck in the country.
@officialsassy.trucker♬ original sound – successful
Pending the investigation, Baxter says on top of her passport being confiscated, her daughter is on a travel ban list, restricting her from leaving the Dubai/United Arab Emirates.
“It’s been very emotional. There are some days I stay up all night crying,” Baxter said. “It’s very frightening. The longer she’s been there the more reality has started to kick in.”