U.S. Legal Counsel to Zack Shahin Urge U.S. Under Secretary of State Maria Otero and Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman to Ensure Shahin's Increasingly Grave Situation is Given the Prominence It Deserves

- Top State Department Policy Makers Must Brief Secretary Clinton to Publicly Call Upon UAE to Grant Shahin Immediate and Reasonable Bail and a Fair and Open Trial –

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following last week's release of the United States Department of State's annual report on Human Rights Practices in which it recognized a number of areas in which the United Arab Emirates - and especially the Emirate of Dubai - had failed to show its respect for human rights of expatriates, along with its own citizens, U.S. legal counsel to Zack Shahin issued the following statement:

"The 2011 report follows after that of 2010 in downplaying the violations of UAE's own laws in the endless procedural treadmill to which Zack Shahin has been subjected.   Worse, it completely ignores the failure of the Department of State to speak out publicly for Mr. Shahin in the same way top US officials, from the Secretary of State on down have spoken out for detainees in other countries, most of them non-Americans.   In particular, Under Secretary Maria Otero (Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights) – who has primary responsibility for the annual report – and Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman, who heads the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which encompasses UAE, to ensure that Mr. Shahin's increasingly grave situation is given the prominence it deserves.   The failure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out for Mr. Shahin, as she has recently for Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, and Sri Lankan General Sarath Fonseka, is attributable in part to the continuing inadequacies in this report." 

"Despite the U.S. Department of State acknowledging in its report on UAE's human rights practices that Shahin's treatment since his arrest has differed significantly from that of other Emirati defendants, Shahin still remains imprisoned for over 1,500 days without bail, conviction, or trial, and the U.S. government remains timid in its approach to publicly broach Shahin's ordeal and ask UAE to grant Shahin immediate and reasonable bail and a free and open trial."  The State Department's 2011 UAE Country Report on Human Rights Practices stated:

The case of an American citizen (Shahin) charged with financial crimes valued in millions of dirhams continued at year's end, marking the fourth year of incarceration without a conviction for the accused. The courts and prosecutor's office continued to raise additional claims against the defendant that required new rulings from the judge. The courts granted bail to the Emirati codefendant but continued to deny bail for the American citizen despite two earlier rulings that approved the bail requests. These practices have kept the accused incarcerated since 2008 without conviction while Emirati defendants in similar cases were allowed to defend their cases outside incarceration in bail status. The case remains ongoing. Foreigners charged with financial crimes are, in some cases, permitted to defend their cases under bail status at the judge's discretion.

Zack Shahin, an American citizen held captive for over four years, is in the second week of a hunger strike to emphasize the arbitrary legal process and judicial maze in which he finds himself, while his government ignores his plea for the protection of his basic rights. In its 2011 Report on Human Rights in the UAE, the State Department said:

"The [UAE] constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports that the government held persons in official custody without charge or a preliminary judicial hearing. The Ministry of Interior detained foreign residents arbitrarily at times. The law permits indefinite, routine, and incommunicado detention without appeal. Under this procedure, the detainee may contact an attorney but is not permitted to see friends and family."

Shahin was arrested and held for almost a year before any charge against him was filed in a Dubai court.  The U.S. Ambassador advised Zack's family that numerous Diplomatic Letters were sent expressing concern over Shahin's detention-none of which were responded to.  The family was not advised of further attempts to publicly raise his case. According to the law in the UAE, as noted in the 2011 State Department Report on Human Rights:

"Police must report an arrest within 48 hours to the public prosecutor, who then must determine within 24 hours whether to charge, release, or further detain the suspect. In practice, the public prosecutor did not always meet the 24-hour time limit, although police usually adhered to their 48-hour deadline. Prosecutors are required to submit charges to a court within 14 days of the police report, at which point the detainee should be informed of the charges against him; it was unknown whether this was true in practice.Public prosecutors may order detainees held as long as 21 days without charge, or longer in some cases with a court order. Courts may not grant an extension of more than 30 days of detention without charge; however, judges may renew 30-day extensions indefinitely."

For more information on Zack Shahin's arrest, visit www.FreeZack.com. 

U.S. legal counsel for Zack Shahin are James Jatras, Rebekah Poston, and Eric Akers.

For More Information Contact: Darren Spinck 202-669-4418/[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Legal Counsel for Zack Shahin