Not condoning it, but, such things have been happening in "that area" for many, many years. I worked in Dubai and Bahrain well over 25 years ago, the treatment of Asian labour was often appalling. Whilst they have the oil wealth, they have a charmed life in terms of doing as they wish.
Like you I have spent some time in the deserts of Oman and Dubai working with construction teams, so I know exactly what you mean.
The local man who was my chaperone literally referred to their home help, often an African or Indian girls as “our slave”. it has to be remember that a lot of these elderly men would literally have been nomadic tribesmen in the 1960s. So they have come a huge way economically in 50 years, but socially they are still way behind.
The treatment of the Asian men labouring in the desert is something else. They live in huts, often work 6-7 days a week and are treated like dirt, fed poorly, with zero provision for free time or a social life. Then flown home once they are done with.
It’s a three tier class system, Emirati are top dog, with Europeans tolerated as second class citizens because they bring money and respectability. But our rights are very limited if things go wrong and the brown stuff can hit the fan very fast. Every expat can tell you a story about someone leaving on an emergency midnight flight and never coming back.
Asian and African workers have no rights and treated like dirt.
I would never go on holiday to Dubai for this very reason. I’ve seen too much of life behind the scenes. It’s a horrible place once you scratch off the veneer of bling.
