U.A.E. should free Shezanne Cassim
Article by: EDITORIAL BOARD , Star Tribune
Updated: December 26, 2013 - 6:56 PM
U grad should never have been imprisoned for satirical video.
In its bid to become a global commercial and cultural capital, the United Arab Emirates has tried to project an image of modernity and moderation. But instead, the U.A.E. looked paranoid and punitive when on Monday it sentenced University of Minnesota graduate Shezanne Cassim to a year in prison for a satirical video about life in the U.A.E. that he posted on YouTube.
Cassim?s conviction was unnecessary in the first place. The video in question reportedly violated relatively new cybercrime laws and posed a threat to national security. But the mock-documentary style video, called the ?Ultimate Combat System: The Deadly Satwa Gs,? was prefaced by a statement saying that, ?The following events are fictional and no offense was intended to the people of Satwa and U.A.E.?
The video, intended to tweak wannabe thugs in a cushy district of Dubai, was just a ?knucklehead video? satirizing young men acting tough, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told an editorial writer...
