They denounce the arbitrary detention of Khashogi’s former American lawyer in the Emirates

July 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Asim Ghafoor, former lawyer of the Saudi journalist Yamal Jashogi, brutally murdered by Saudi agents at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, is “arbitrarily” detained after being arrested while making an air stopover in the United Arab Emirates, as reported by the Human Rights organization to which he belongs, Democracy Now for the Arab World (DAWN).

“United Arab Emirates security agents have detained the American citizen (…) Asim Ghafoor at Dubai International Airport in what appears to be an ‘in absentia’ charge for political reasons,” DAWN denounced in a statement.

The organization denounces that there is “no public evidence” to support Ghafoor’s arrest on July 14, for which it demands the “immediate release” of the activist and asks the US president, Joe Biden, to cancel any meeting with the Emirati president. Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan.

“We are outraged by the unjustified detention of a member of our board of directors and deeply concerned for his health and physical integrity given the well-documented history of abuses in the United Arab Emirates, including torture and inhumane mistreatment,” said the executive director of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, in the organization’s statement.

Biden finally met on Friday with the Emirati leader, present by videoconference at a meeting that the US president held with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

Ghafoor lives in Virginia, but he traveled to Dubai on July 14, stopping at his final destination, Istanbul, to attend a wedding accompanied by his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Ghafoor sent a text message reporting that two plainclothes Emirati officers approached him as he was waiting for his plane to depart.

He was arrested and informed that he was under arrest “to clarify a case in which he is accused”. Later they transferred him in a police van to Abu Dhabi from which Ghafoor sent a photograph, the last contact that has been maintained with the activist.

According to the US consular service, which is already working on the case, Ghafoor is being held for “money laundering.”

Ghafur was Jamal Khashogi’s lawyer and a personal friend of his. From DAWN they have also filed a complaint in a US court against the Saudi crown prince, Mohamed bin Salmán, for the murder of Jashogi.