American jailed in UAE for YouTube parody video

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

American jailed in UAE for YouTube parody video

ABU DHABI Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:06pm EST

(Reuters) - An American citizen was sentenced to a year in prison in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for posting a parody video on YouTube which pokes fun at young Emirati men who imitate U.S. hip-hop culture, his family said.

Shezanne Cassim, 29, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates since April after publishing the 20-minute "mockumentary" film.

In the video, which opens with a disclaimer stating it is fictional and does not intend to offend the people of the UAE, Emirati men described as "deadly gangsters" can be seen practicing throwing sandals and wielding an agal, the cord used to keep in place traditional headscarves.

Cassim, an aviation business consultant, was charged with violating the Gulf nation's cyber crime law which makes acts deemed damaging to the country's reputation or national security punishable by jail time and heavy fines.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/23/us-emirates-youtube-parody-idUSBRE9BM0M220131223

[Swede Atlanta]

1. Don't travel to hateful parts of the world....

isolate them.....don't give them the press they so desperately want. They are pariahs.

[get the red out]

4. Absolutely!!!!

I completely agree, they are not safe for people who have been brought up with free expression and thought.

[DonCoquixote]

2. the UAE will show off it's skyscrapers

But sorry to say, they are still a bunch of barbarians, just barbarians in armani suits.

[silverweb]

3. Thin-skinned, aren't they?

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That seems to be a trait basic to fundies, despots, and tyrants of all stripes.