UAE man pursues lawsuit after ‘abusive treatment’ by US police

An Emirati businessman visiting the United States was wrestled to the ground and held as a Daesh suspect.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) media reported that the Emirati man was detained in Avon, Ohio, last week after a female clerk at a local hotel the police to report what she had repotedly described as a man affiliated to Daesh, al-Bayan newspaper reports.

Gulf News, another UAE newspaper, published photos of the Emirati man in white robes being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed before being led away by police.

Speaking to the National, the man, who sustained injuries in the incident, said that the police were “brutal”.

Al-Bayan reported that the man has hired a lawyer to pursue the case, saying he had received no apology from either the police or the hotel over the case.

In the meantime, the UAE has urged men to avoid wearing the white robes, headscarf and headband of the national dress when travelling abroad.

In a message on a foreign ministry Twitter account aimed at citizens travelling abroad, the ministry said on Saturday:

“For citizens travelling outside the country, and in order to ensure their safety, we point out not to wear formal dress while travelling, especially in public places,” the message dated 2 July stated, without referring to the Avon incident. The foreign ministry said in a statement it had summoned US deputy ambassador Ethan Goldrich to protest the “abusive treatment by the Ohio police of a UAE citizen” and to deplore the filming of his arrest which it described as defamation.

“The UAE cares for the safety of its citizens and demands clarifications about the incident,” it said in a statement carried by WAM state news agency.

The National said the receptionist at the Fairfield Inn hotel called the police after she heard the man talking on his phone in the hotel lobby. The woman reportedly described him as “a suspicious man with disposable phones – two of them – in a full head dress.”

A search by police found no weapons on him, according to the Guardian.

The National reported that when police spoke to the hotel clerk, they found he had not made any statements related to Daesh.

Officers reportedly blamed the incident on a miscommunication.