Rights Groups Urge Biden to Secure Release of US Lawyer Held in UAE

As President Joe Biden prepared to meet with the leader of the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, human rights groups urged the U.S. administration to secure the release of an American civil rights attorney arrested in Dubai in a “politically motivated” case.

Asim Ghafoor—a U.S. citizen who previously represented murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and his fiancée Hatice Cengiz—was taken into custody Thursday at Dubai International Airport while en route to Turkey to attend a family wedding, the group Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN)—of which Ghafoor is a board member—said Friday.

“We are outraged at the unjustified detention of our board member and extremely concerned for his health and physical security given the well-documented record of abuse in the UAE, including torture and inhuman treatment,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN, in a statement.

DAWN cited U.S. consular officials who said Ghafoor was taken to the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigative Division detention facility on charges related to an in absentia conviction for alleged money laundering.

“Detaining Ghafoor on the basis of an in absentia conviction without providing him any information, notice, or opportunity to defend against himself is a flagrant violation of his due process rights,” said Whitson. “Whatever trumped-up legal pretext the UAE has cooked up for detaining Ghafoor, it smacks of politically motivated revenge for his association with Khashoggi and DAWN, which has highlighted UAE human rights abuses and urged an end to arms sales to the country.”

“We urge the Biden administration to secure the release of an arbitrarily detained American lawyer before agreeing to meet with the UAE’s leader MBZ in Jeddah tomorrow,” she continued, a reference to Emirati ruler President Shiekh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.