UAE gets tough over an American's 'silly video'

An American man has been locked up in a maximum-security prison in Abu Dhabi for eight months for posting a comedy video online.

The family of Shez Cassim say he has been charged with ‘endangering national security’ over the 19-minute film, which intended to mock suburban teens who adopt a tough-talking gangsta attitude.

Ultimate Combat System: The Deadly Satwa G’s shows a group of young men undergoing supposed ‘martial arts’ training before cruising the streets in a people-carrier discussing hip-hop culture. They then receive a tweet about a supposed gang fight, but when they get there, nothing is happening; their rivals allegedly scared off.

A disclaimer at the start of the video,  which has had 150,000 views and is still online, makes clear that the events are fictional.

Cassim, 29, has lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates since 2006 and worked as a business consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He posted the video in October last year.

But in April, authorities jailed Cassim and revoked his passport after questioning him about the video, according to his US lawyer. He is now being held in Al-Wathba Prison in Abu Dhabi, along with four others, including two Emirati citizens.

His next hearing is on Monday next week, but his family say he has been denied bail three times.

Cassim is said to be the first foreigner arrested under new rules limiting internet use in the United Arab Emirates, which were introduced after the video was shot. Some reports suggest that he has been charged with, among other things, violating a cyber-crime law which bans using publishing ‘caricatures that are liable to endanger state security and its higher interests or infringe on public order’.

But when CNN asked UAE authorities about what charges Cassim may be facing, they did not respond.

It is not the first time the nation has clamped down on a YouTube video. In July, footage of an Emirati man repeatedly hitting an Indian van driver after a minor road accident was posted online – and police arrested the man who posted it.

Mr Cassim and his friends have made several online videos spoofing Dubai life under the channel name VisaCancel. Several show him doing things he says are not customary: like cleaning up after yourself at McDonald’s or wearing deodorant on the underground.

His brother Shervon told reporters: 'At a time when the United Arab Emirates is holding itself out as a modern country, it is sadly ironic and a poor image to present to the world that it continues to imprison my brother for uploading a silly video.’

‘Clicktivists’ will be changing their social media avatars tomorrow, National Human Rights Day, to #freeshez to highlight the case.

Here’s the video:

Published: 9 Dec 2013