VIDEO POSTER LUCKY TO ESCAPE FROM UAE

A man from Minnesota who was imprisoned in the UAE for a video he uploaded has managed to make his way back to America:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An American man is back in Minnesota after being held in prison in the United Arab Emirates for a parody video that was posted online.

Twenty-nine-year-old Shezanne Cassim of Woodbury, Minn., told reporters Thursday that he did nothing wrong and that there was nothing illegal about the video, which satirized youth culture in Dubai.

Cassim says he was "tried in a textbook kangaroo court" and convicted "without any evidence." He says his ordeal shows the UAE is "scared of democracy."

Cassim was in custody in the UAE for nine months in connection with the video. He was arrested in April and had been held at a maximum security prison in Abu Dhabi since June.

An airplane carrying Cassim home landed Thursday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Well, he's right about their fears of democracy. We have another demonstration here of why nobody with sense should put money into the pockets of the UAE by vacationing there.