Facebook post written in Florida lands US man in United Arab Emirates jail

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/facebook-post-inked-in-florida-lands-us-man-in-united-arab-emirates-jail/

by ajaymehta • 11 years ago

119 62 11 years ago

arstechnica.com

EdwardDiego• 11 years ago

Good news everyone, his employers are hiring: http://www.gal.ae/careers/Jobs.aspx

Just don't "slander" them.

Sanddancer• 11 years ago

Yep, and you'll be working to train your replacement the entire time [1]. So maybe their complaint is going to be that they're not backstabbers, but that you're signing up to be gutted when you take the job.

[1] http://www.gal.ae/emir.aspx

asadlionpk• 11 years ago

They are thinking good for their countrymen. I don't see why that is wrongdoing. Their non-Emirati employees do get paid for their work while they are there.

TillE• 11 years ago

I really can't understand why well-off Westerners continue to work in or visit the UAE, Qatar, etc. You have a choice. Unless you're doing some kind of humanitarian or cultural work which actually requires you to be there, stay the hell away.

b0sk• 11 years ago

Money and low taxes. Reason why thousands of people from Asia work in the middle-east despite piss-poor conditions.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read "well-off". Still, more money is the answer.

_nedR• 11 years ago

>Money and low taxes

More like no taxes. From what i heard, they have no sales tax, or income tax (including companies). And a flat 5% duty on all duty (with that even exempted on certain goods such as computers).

aikah2• 11 years ago

Well, it depends on how much one is willing to risk for a given salary. I bet the guy was well paid in KSA. He was just ignorant of that specific risk when going back there or too arrogant to think he would get caught.

I know a lot of people that work in Singapore too.A beautiful place but you'd better make sure you know the implications of doing things that would seem harmless in the west. Because being a westerner wont make the justice system more lenient. On the contrary,they tend to make examples out of westerners.

cesarbs• 11 years ago

I'm curious: what kinds of things would those be? I've always thought Singapore was a quite westernized country, but I guess I'm wrong.

chaostheory2• 11 years ago

Personally, I tend to stay far away from any place that requires an exit visa.

peteretep• 11 years ago

Because money, obviously

subliminalpanda3• 11 years ago

Low cost of living, high salary and no income tax. My sister works as an attorney for a global law firm in Dubai, and the attitude that westerners have there is like they're exploiting a rainforest for its goods. You move there for 4 or 5 years, rack up a huge sum and head back to your country of origin with a huge chunk of change.

Although I imagine for Americans this will be more difficult now with FACTA laws.

level092• 11 years ago

Low cost of living

Not really true

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings.jsp

however, many companies offer housing as part of their packages.

archier• 11 years ago

how do you find one of these jobs?

realusername• 11 years ago

High salary yes but until you get in a jail for a random reason and then it's just a number on your bank account.

noonespecial• 11 years ago

A friend of mine teaches at an international school in Abu Dhabi. He's fond of saying that its a thoroughly modern place but its not quite civilized. Don't mistake one for the other.

subliminalpanda3• 11 years ago

You have to make the distinction between modern amenities and governance.

You get a lot of glitz and luxuries, but you always have to keep in mind that the region is still ruled with a Bedouin mentality (I say this as an Omani national).

leeoniya• 11 years ago

so, this was a public post? or he was friends with everyone he was badmouthing? illegal or not, that's plain poor decision making.

mullingitover• 11 years ago

It's beautifully ironic that this was man was arrested at the employer's request, because the man portrayed them negatively. Yeah. Global Aerospace Logistics sure looks like a bunch of swell chaps now, I bet people are lining up to beg to work for them.

yardie• 11 years ago

Well, a new position just opened. So...

higherpurpose• 11 years ago

Amnesty International released this tool a while ago to see what "crimes" you're committing with your posts in other countries:

http://www.trialbytimeline.org.nz/

Also, once again civil libertarians were right: when US starts arresting people from across the globe for doing "crimes" that hardly have anything to do with its jurisdiction, eventually other countries will start doing the same with Americans, knowing that it's "okay" to do that.

thret• 11 years ago

I just ran this for two hours and it was still thinking when I gave up. What if anything does it actually do?

dmd• 11 years ago

That's the point. You're held indefinitely without trial.

saryant• 11 years ago

He wasn't arrested in the US, he was arrested in Abu Dhabi.

throwaway344• 11 years ago

I'm curious to know exactly what crimes that you think the US has punished around the world.

Terrorism? Drugs? Copyright?

vertis2• 11 years ago

This is not exactly in the same category, but as I was coming back to Australia a few weeks ago I saw a sign stating that Australia considered child abuse committed internationally to be a crime and would prosecute.

With regard to this particular case, it really is your responsibility to know the laws of the place you're going to.

klodolph• 11 years ago

I always assumed this was because Australia was relatively close to "popular" sex tourism destinations. You don't want to be known for exporting child abusers.

vertis2• 11 years ago

I think it's for that reason and also a broader international effort to combat the problem.

qq66• 11 years ago

The unusual thing here is that a man is being prosecuted for a Facebook post. The fact that he is being prosecuted for something he wrote in the US is not at all unusual. The United States routinely prosecutes Americans who engage in actions which are illegal in the United States, even if the actions are legal in the country in which the action takes place. The US government invokes this extraterritorial jurisdiction mainly for two categories of crimes: sex crimes against minors and corruption/bribery.

jrockway• 11 years ago

I'm not a lawyer, but why would he admit to it?

"I just couldn't register it in my head because as an American growing up in the United States, the First Amendment right is just ingrained in my brain," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

I think the correct defense is to make them prove that he wrote, then if they prove he did, start saying "well I thought it was OK".

usbreply• 11 years ago

This isn't America. They don't have to prove (in a court of law) that he wrote it. Their accusation is sufficient. The facebook page has his name on it, "everybody knows" that he wrote it.

paulsutter• 11 years ago

Ryan Pate ... is accused of slandering his employer, which is illegal in the Emirates... He wrote in December about his superiors at Global Aerospace Logistics being "backstabbers."

Slander is making /false/ defamatory statements. By reporting him to the police on his return trip, his superiors have proven themselves to be backstabbers.

Where's the slander?

hmoghnie• 11 years ago

A small reminder to never work in those countries. Only the desperate ones go there.

ilitirit• 11 years ago

I'm always amused by the typical comments posted after every story like this. Yes, many places in the ME do have some really archaic laws, but you're more likely to have to get arrested and forced to pay a bribe in places like Thailand, China, many African and South American countries etc. In Thailand you can get arrested for insulting the king (and I won't be surprised if they'd do that over a FaceBook post written in a different country). However, it's not often you hear people advise westerners against going there.

peterjancelis• 11 years ago

The fact that you can pay it off with a bribe makes it much less threatening.

616c2• 11 years ago

This is not very surprising, especially to residents in Qatar, as there has been great anxiety and lack of clarity over the country's first cyber law.

http://dohanews.co/criticism-qatars-cybercrime-law-mounts-ho... ‎

Granted, they will tell you it is because of acts of cybervandalism and computer intrusion by hacktivists from the likes of the Syrian Hacker Army and company. Now, those groups have attacked even infrastructure of companies like Qatar Petroleum or RasGas (I forget which one). Now, none of us trust the law because of slander/libel provisions.

However, I do not think Americans ought to talk. We have bounced foreigners on entry to the US for non-sensical Facebook commentary about getting wrecked in America, somehow construed to mean they will go on a terror rampage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30267026

So, yeah, fellow Americans. We should get off our high horse.

Facebook post written in Florida lands US man in United Arab Emirates jail

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