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American consultant jailed in UAE over satirical video to be released
Source: The Guardian
American consultant jailed in UAE over satirical video to be released
Joanna Walters in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 7 January 2014 19.45 GMT
An American consultant, jailed for a year in the United Arab Emirates for making a spoof video about his host country, is likely to be released within days, his family said on Tuesday.
Shezanne Cassim, 29, from Woodbury, near St Paul, Minnesota, has been moved from the federal prison in the desert outside Abu Dhabi where he was being held to a deportation centre nearby in preparation for being flown back to the United States.
“He is going to be released, we hope it’s this week, but we are not sure. He has been moved to a deportation centre in anticipation of being released within a few days,” said Susan Burns, a US lawyer who has been working on behalf of the Cassim family to secure the man’s liberty.
As part of the sentence he received in a UAE court, Cassim was ordered to be deported at the end of his prison term. Cassim’s family in Minnesota and local political representatives had been lobbying the State Department to help secure his early release. “His family is ecstatic,” said Burns.
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Joanna Walters in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 7 January 2014 19.45 GMT
An American consultant, jailed for a year in the United Arab Emirates for making a spoof video about his host country, is likely to be released within days, his family said on Tuesday.
Shezanne Cassim, 29, from Woodbury, near St Paul, Minnesota, has been moved from the federal prison in the desert outside Abu Dhabi where he was being held to a deportation centre nearby in preparation for being flown back to the United States.
“He is going to be released, we hope it’s this week, but we are not sure. He has been moved to a deportation centre in anticipation of being released within a few days,” said Susan Burns, a US lawyer who has been working on behalf of the Cassim family to secure the man’s liberty.
As part of the sentence he received in a UAE court, Cassim was ordered to be deported at the end of his prison term. Cassim’s family in Minnesota and local political representatives had been lobbying the State Department to help secure his early release. “His family is ecstatic,” said Burns.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/07/american-consultant-uae-satirical-video-release