Good News!
March 10th, 2008 Filed Under Cases
Friends, thank you so much for helping us free Cat Le-Huy. He is now free, and I met with him in London last week. This was announced on the BBC and freediz.com a little earlier, but I wanted to see him with my own two eyes before making this announcement, just not to jinx things.
Without all your help, this would never have happened. Thank you all, thank you very, very much.
Even though Cat is home safely, Dubai still continues to trap innocent people every year. There are ways to help:
Thank you all!
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Critical Cat Le-Huy Update
February 25th, 2008 Filed Under Cases, Cat Le-Huy (Diz), Take Action
Cat Le-Huy as of the 22nd of February remains in Al Wathba Prison. We are exploring all possible avenues for his release. Currently the decision rests with the Dubai Chief Prosecutor as to whether to charge him or drop the case entirely. Cat’s Advocate has been presenting arguments to the Prosecution in an attempt to persuade them to drop the case.
We hope that the Chief Prosecutor can be persuaded to drop the case. It is almost like a pre-trial and the legal fees for this are are expected to be in the vicinity of £50,000. We have raised half this amount already thanks to your donations, and are now making an appeal for people to keep donating to reach the full amount. All fees will need to be paid prior to his release and therefore it is urgent and imperative that we complete the fundraising ASAP. As the amount is large, it is difficult for any one party to provide liquid cash in such a short time so we need to appeal to the public for support.
CLICK HERE TO SAVE CAT - DONATE NOW
We are hoping for a speedy, positive resolution & expect to have more solid news very shortly. There are rumours being generated within the prison that people who plead guilty, are deported though as you would expect, there are no guarantees and this is often an attempt to scare prisoners into pleading guilty, to make the Chief Prosecutor’s job easier. Cat was told if he signed the Arabic confession, he would be deported immediately. They didn’t keep their word then & we very much doubt they would now. As such, Cat agrees it’s better to tell the truth and maintain his innocent plea. Unfortunately, the legal system in the UAE is not designed with fair trials in mind & with very few practicing (drug) criminal lawyers, senior advocates & associated law firms charge a high amount for their services. In this case, we are confident that Cat’s advocate will be able to secure his release in the very near future as he has done for many others in similar situations in the past. We have been advised, there is a 90% chance this case will be closed if we can raise the financial assistance in a timely manner.
Please circulate this most important appeal for financial assistance.We are asking for your donations –whatever you can give– of which 100% of proceeds will go toward his legal defence fund. Without a lawyer, Cat will very likely have no option but to plead guilty, and we are at a critical stage in this process. Cat pleaded with us not to let him get lost in the system and we need to do everything we can to keep prevent this happening. Without legal representation, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Thank you so much for your help, we couldn’t do this without your benevolence and generosity. Please direct questions to dubai@futurecorp.co.uk.
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Save Cat - Donate Now
February 13th, 2008 Filed Under Cat Le-Huy (Diz), Take Action
A critical step in securing the release of Cat has been made, and we have now acquired terrific legal representation for him. Having said this, we are faced with a bill for $50,000 USD, which needs to be paid in full, up front. The money will be held in trust by a trusted Legal firm in Dubai and released to Cat’s barrister in installments.
We need your help: we are asking for your donations –whatever you can give– of which 100% of proceeds will go toward his legal defense fund. Without a lawyer, Cat will very likely have no option but to plead guilty, and we are at a critical stage in this process. Cat pleaded with us not to let him get lost in the system and we need to do everything we can to keep prevent this happening. Without legal representation, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Thank you so much for your help, we couldn’t do this without your benevolence and generosity.
If you have any questions about the fund, please feel free to contact: dubai@futurecorp.co.uk
Please help by forwarding this page to friends, relatives & colleagues.
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Press Release Regarding Cat-Luy
February 1st, 2008 Filed Under Cat Le-Huy (Diz)
UK Tourist Arrested in Dubai Airport for Melatonin, Imprisoned Without Charges
31-year-old Cat Le-Huy, Head of Technology at Endemol UK, was detained and arrested during a tourist visit to Dubai for carrying melatonin, an over-the-counter jet lag aid. Though once in custody Le-Huy tested negative for drugs and his melatonin was cleared by officials, he is still in Dubai jail with no charges and no release date.
Dubai, UAE, February 1, 2008 - This past Saturday, German citizen and UK resident Cat Le-Huy arrived in Dubai and was arbitrarily stopped at immigration. Initial inspection of Le-Huy’s belongings by Dubai authorities yielded a bottle of melatonin, a health supplement available over the counter both in Dubai and in the US (where Le-Huy had purchased it). After being taken into the interrogation room, Le-Huy was strip-searched, submitted to urine testing, and was forced to sign papers in Arabic which he couldn’t read. During the bag search, authorities came up with a few trace fragments of dirt, which they alleged to be hashish.
During and after the arrest, Dubai authorities alleged that the melatonin bottle found in Le-Huy’s bag contained other pills. As of Monday, tests conducted by the authorities indicated that the melatonin pills did not contain any other substances and the melatonin was cleared. Le-Huy’s urine sample also tested negative for any drug use. The German Embassy expected that Le-Huy would be released at this time, but authorities have called on an option to extend his detainment in order to investigate the specks of dirt that they found.
According to friends, Le-Huy’s decision to travel to Dubai came about after visiting the official tourist website of Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTMC). The website is part of a larger campaign aimed at Western tourists and promotes Dubai as a safe and modern holiday destination. The DTMC aggressively advertises Dubai Tourism all over the world; as per their website, “The marketing mix of DTCM-Dubai comprises of very strong, strategic placement of media campaigns in print, electronic and outdoor, which reaches the target audiences… the media vehicle, language and the creative are all tailor made to suit that market.”
The government-created DTMC website, which advertises itself as an all-in-one tourist resource, fails to mention any of the new, strict laws that ensnare Western travelers in Dubai’s prisons daily. One Dubai law states that trace amounts of drugs used before coming to Dubai in the traveler’s system count as “drug possession,” a crime punished with a four-year jail sentence. This includes legal, prescribed drugs for health conditions (examples include codeine and similar narcotic-like drugs prescribed for pain).
Although Cat Le-Huy tested negative for any drug use, he, like many other travelers, still fell victim to Dubai’s harsh anti-drug policy and remains in jail under ambiguous circumstances. As a result of Cat Le-Huy’s case and many cases like it, the Dubai Truth Campaign has launched a campaign warning travelers about the dangers of vacationing in Dubai. The website, http://www.thetruthaboutdubai
The Committee seeks to educate travelers about the dangers of traveling to Dubai and hopes to work with Dubai officials to make the new laws more widely-publicized to prevent such unfortunate situations from occurring in the future, and to secure the deportation of current prisoners who fell victim to these under-publicized laws.
Image of Cat Le-Huy copyright 2007 Drew Yoon.
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Why We’re Here
February 1st, 2008 Filed Under Why We're Here
The Dubai Truth Campaign is dedicated to exposing the dangers of traveling to
We became aware of these dangers to tourists through a case that’s personal to us, that of Cat Le-Huy. Cat, a German citizen and
We aim to collect the stories of other travelers who, like Cat, have become ensnared by
If your life has been affected by an arrest in
Through an organized effort of petitioning, raising awareness and working with
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Cases
January 31st, 2008 Filed Under Cases
Victims of Injustive (UAEPRISON.COM)
There are thousands of men and women languishing in UAE prisons, either without a trial, or even if they are acquitted, they remain in prison for a long time. Many are forced to sign confessions for the crimes they never committed and lastly because of the inhuman treatment in the prisons, many prisoners have lost their mental balance and have turned into vegetables.
Woman hospitalized in Dubai and given painkillers, arrested at airport for it
Suffering from a back injury, Mrs Wilkinson - a sports osteopath - had had emergency injections of the drug at a hospital in Dubai. She did not know the treatment would lead to her being thrown into jail. For the next two months, she was incarcerated with 100 other women who had been accused of offences ranging from theft to drug crime and prostitution.
UK Tourist Arrested in Dubai Airport for Melatonin, Imprisoned Without Charges
31-year-old Cat Le-Huy, Head of Technology at Endemol UK, was detained and arrested during a tourist visit to Dubai for carrying melatonin, an over-the-counter jet lag aid. Though once in custody Le-Huy tested negative for drugs and his melatonin was cleared by officials, he is still in Dubai jail with no charges and no release date.
Anti-Narcotics Officer Jailed for 4 years for Trace Amounts of Drugs
“The 36-year-old former UN worker has blamed his own negligence for his April arrest at Dubai International Airport, where he was found with two poppy bulbs and a small quantity of hashish. Despite his efforts to explain the poppy bulbs were old and would only be used for educational purposes and that the hashish - 0.06 grams - was residue from handling it daily in Afghanistan as an anti-narcotics officer, he was sentenced to four years in prison.”
Italian Tourist Sentenced to 4 Years for 1/100th of a gram of hash
On May 31, the Dubai Court of First Instance found a 24-year-old Italian man identified only by the initials “A.D.” guilty of smuggling and possessing 1/100th of a gram of hash after he arrived at the airport. The quantity discovered — 1/2800th of an ounce — is too small to be usable and so tiny that the fact it was detected at all is remarkable. A.D. told the court he did not realize the hash was there. “I didn’t intend to bring the drugs,” he told presiding Judge Abdul Majid Al Nezamy. “I forgot it in the inner pocket of my jacket.” That didn’t matter to Judge Al Nezamy, who sentenced the unfortunate Italian to four years in prison to be followed by deportation.
Tourists sentenced to four years in a Dubai jail for carrying specks of drugs
Two Britons visiting Dubai have each been jailed for four years for possessing tiny amounts of soft drugs for personal use. The harsh sentences highlight the zero-tolerance policy to all drugs enforced by the authorities in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven Gulf states. A mere speck of a drug forgotten in a trouser pocket can bring a four-year jail term.
15 year old tourist accused of homosexual acts after being gang raped
“Alexandre Robert, a French 15-year-old, was having a fine summer in this tourist paradise on the Persian Gulf…. He bumped into an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student at the American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home.
There were, in fact, three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18, according to Alex. He says they drove him past his house and into a dark patch of desert, between a row of new villas and a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened him with a knife and a club, and told him they would kill his family if he ever reported them.
Then they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car. They dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers.
Alex and his family were about to learn that despite Dubai’s status as the Arab world’s paragon of modernity and wealth, and its well-earned reputation for protecting foreign investors, its criminal legal system remains a perilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection of foreigners.
The authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges, he, his family and French diplomats say; they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier….Alex stayed in Dubai in order to testify against his attackers, and went back to school in September, despite suffering unsettling flashbacks. In early October, however, the family said, their lawyer warned Alex that he was in danger of facing charges of homosexuality and a prison term of one year…”
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Help and Resources
January 30th, 2008 Filed Under Help and Resources
UAE Inmates: Assistance of people in UAE Jails
There are a number ofways that we assist prisoners in UAE. Our Support team provides advice, information and support to any inmate in a UAE prison and their families. We provide a personal, friendly help. We also provide information about repatriation. We can also respond to other specific requests for information, where appropriate.
Keep banned drugs off travel kit
Dubai: Having medicines in your travel bag is second nature to most people, but if you’re not careful, those medicines to relieve a cough or treat painful gastric ulcers can land you in jail.
Anti-Narcotics Officer Jailed for 4 years for Trace Amounts of Drugs
More support links coming soon!
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Take Action
January 29th, 2008 Filed Under Take Action
- Lodge an E-Complaint on the Dubai Tourism Board
- Sign the petition to bring home Cat Le-Huy
- DONATE to the Cat Le-Huy Legal Fund
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