American college student Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos has been released from a Dubai prison after spending five months there. Her detention was a result of allegedly touching an airport security officer’s arm.
Radha Stirling, CEO of Due Process International and Detained in Dubai, expressed her thoughts in a news release. “We are thankful that Elizabeth is on her way home, but is this truly a happy ending?” She questioned the circumstances surrounding Polanco’s release.
Stirling added, “She should have been home in May. Instead, she has endured an incredibly traumatic experience as a young student, lost $50,000 without any compensation, and faced conviction based only on allegations. She was sentenced to a year in prison, fined, and deported. All of this is a disgrace.”
Elizabeth Polanco, a business arts student at Lehman College, found herself in the Dubai airport on May 14 during a layover from Istanbul to New York. When an airport security officer instructed her to remove a waist compression device she was wearing due to recent surgery, she tapped the officer on the arm to seek assistance in putting it back on.
However, Polanco was detained and held in a room for several hours while the security officer filed a complaint against her, according to a news release from Detained in Dubai. Polanco was then forced to sign paperwork in Arabic before being released. As she attempted to board her flight back to New York, she was informed of a travel ban imposed against her.
In August, a Dubai judge ordered Polanco to pay a $2,772 fine. In addition, she accumulated legal fees and faced the prospect of a year-long detention, as stated in the news release.
Stirling expressed her concerns, saying, “They either want her in jail or they want to pressure her into making a compensatory payment to them. Locals in Dubai have long taken advantage of tourists, using them as a secondary source of income through punishment and extortion. Compensating complainants only worsens the situation. The Dubai government needs to address this corruption by prohibiting government employees from accepting out-of-court settlements for criminal complaints. It provides too much incentive to those in power, resulting in incidents like this that tarnish the reputation of the UAE as a safe transportation and tourism hub.”
A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department assured that the U.S. Embassy in Dubai had consistently provided consular assistance throughout the case.
The statement from the U.S. Department of State reads, “The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is of utmost importance to us and our embassies and consulates worldwide.”
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