Due process in the United Arab Emirates

MANAUS, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 18: An inmate is escorted through the overcrowded Puraquequara prison on February 18, 2016 in Manaus, Brazil. The prison holds nearly 1,400 inmates, around twice as many as it was designed for. Brazil now holds the fourth-largest prison population in the world, behind the U.S., Russia and China, with the number of Brazilians behind bars nearly doubling in the past decade. The prison system currently holds more than 600,000 inmates, 61 percent over capacity, according to Human Rights Watch. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The people mentioned in Jackson Diehl's Feb. 22 op-ed, "Tortured by a U.S. ally," are alleged to have cooperated with and financed terrorist organizations, some of which are officially designated as such by both the Emirati and U.S. governments. Just as in the United States, these are very serious charges in the United Arab Emirates . And, just as in the United States, the defendants received a hearing, were represented by legal counsel and were allowed to contact their families and U.S. diplomatic representatives.

As noted in the State Department's 2014 human rights report, the UAE's "law presumes defendants innocent until proven guilty." Along those lines, Kamal Eldarat and his son Momed are being provided all of the due process guarantees under the Constitution and laws of the United Arab Emirates.

Yousef al Otaiba, Washington

The writer is the United Arab Emirates'
ambassador to the United States.

I'm an American who was arbitrarily detained by the United Arab Emirates in 2013 for uploading a comedy video about youth culture to YouTube. Unfortunately, I know all too well that Jackson Diehl's concerns about two Americans imprisoned in the UAE being denied legal counsel and coerced into false confessions are quite valid. During my initial interrogation, UAE police officers made me sign a document written in Arabic, a language I can't read. Later, I learned that document was a "confession" the police fabricated. The country's supreme court used it as "evidence" to convict me of "endangering UAE state security." Throughout nine months of detention, authorities never permitted me to meet with my attorney.

Based on my experience, the claim that the two Americans are receiving “due process . . . in accordance with international fair trial standards” is improbable.

Shezanne Cassim, Woodbury, Minn.