It’s every traveler’s worst nightmare: Being arrested or even imprisoned while visiting a foreign country far from home.
As movies like Brokedown Palace and Bridget Jones’ Diary have shown, such occurrences can and do occur.
Whether it’s a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being uninformed about different laws, or putting trust in the wrong people…none of this matters when a foreigner is at the mercy of the host country’s regulations and authorities. According to the US State Department, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Fortunately, most people’s voyages go off without a hitch, but an unlucky minority find themselves on the wrong side of a jail cell.
Here are 10 cases, some with happy endings, others that have yet to be resolved: