Agreed. Wouldn't US or France do the same if someone publicly suggested similar violence for WTC or Eiffel?
You'd have your visa revoked and be deported in a heartbeat, but you would not be charged or disappeared.
The fact is countries detain people all the time for a variety of reasons. I am not saying it's right, it just is.
In general it's a bad plan to put yourself in the hands of your opponents, especially if they are not very big on human rights and the rule of law.
Hostage diplomacy is very much a thing[1]. In general though I would think for most westerners it would be rather safe to visit the UAE, I think it's fairly aligned to the west and unlikely to detain people just to make a fuss.
[1] https://tnsr.org/2021/11/caught-between-giants-hostage-diplo...
There is a difference in scale and directness to this in UAE though.
I'm by no means apologizing for unethical and illegal extraordinary renditions, which were unacceptable, but that is a ridiculous claim.
Just an example:
>Thousands of people are convicted every year for “contempt of public officials”, a vaguely defined criminal offence that law enforcement and judicial authorities have applied in massive numbers to silence peaceful dissent.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/france-is-not...