U.S. citizen detained in UAE has been released
2022.12.23 12:11
U.S. citizen detained in UAE has been released
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – His fiancée announced on Friday that an Egyptian-American national who was detained in the United Arab Emirates after criticizing the Egyptian president and calling for protests in advance of a climate meeting there has been released from prison.
The release of Sherif Osman, who was arrested on November 6 and was feared to be extradited to Egypt, a close ally of the UAE, did not receive a response from the Emirati government.
On December 4, an unidentified Emirati official stated that authorities were attempting to acquire “requisite legal documentation required in preparing the extradition file,” but did not specify which nation or whether a request had been made for this information.
He was detained after posting a YouTube video on November 11 while U.S. President Joe Biden was attending the COP27 conference in Sharm El Sheikh in which he called for peaceful protests and criticized President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Saija Virta, Osman’s fiancée, informed Reuters that he was granted bail on Thursday and will remain in Dubai until the case is resolved.
Virta said, “I was finally able to have a video call with Sherif, and he looked healthy and well,” adding that he was well treated in prison. Ideally we can bring him home to the U.S. before long.”
Activists and Osman’s family are concerned that he might be extradited to Egypt, where rights groups claim that tens of thousands of people have been detained as part of a crackdown on political dissent since Sisi took power in 2014.
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In detention cases, the Gulf state “strictly adheres to all internationally accepted standards,” including regular consular access and legal counsel, according to the UAE official.
