Not that there is any expectation of them adjusting their opaque, undemocratic and legally-dysfunctional approach to his improper incarceration, but arousing public opinion by shining some bright light on this little-publicized Emirates scandal can't be a bad thing. That's about the only remaining strategy when authoritarian regimes in dark, press-controlled corners of the Third World engage in their capricious ways with innocent people's freedom.
The New York Times version of the same article which will also appear in Friday's paper edition is headlined "Emirates’ Laws Trap a Doctor Just Passing Through".
We have written again and again (most recently in "9-Apr-13: Justice, United Arab Emirates style: The outrageous saga continues") on the Emirates/Karabus scandal. It stands for something more than 'merely' a disgraceful example of unchecked absolute power being applied wrongly and unfairly on a powerless victim (endemic in this part of the world). The unlawful actions of the 'authorities' in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, and the benign way the world's media generally treat them, are part of a much larger issue that affects many more people and not only those who unwittingly visit the UAE.
You can see some of our earlier comments in a March post of ours [28-Mar-13: He is acquitted but Prof. Karabus "has no choice but to submit"] and via the links embedded in that and earlier This Ongoing War posts.
Just one more word of a practical nature: we wrote a few days ago that health professionals attracted by the shine and glitz of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and by jobs promoted on sites likethis, this, this and this should be warned ahead of time about just how different the UAE and its authoritarian regimes are from the world they know.
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