Student freed from Dubai jail after getting one-year sentence for 'gently tapping' airport officer during 'humiliating' search
4 October 2023, 09:10 | Updated: 4 October 2023, 09:47
A student given a prison sentence after "gently tapping" an airport security officer during a search has been freed.
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New Yorker Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos, 21, a business arts student at Lehman College in New York, was arrested after a seemingly mild incident during a "humiliating" search at Dubai airport on July 14 and given a one-year jail sentence.
But her sentence was commuted on Tuesday, leaving her delighted to be heading home. Her ordeal has cost her roughly £41,400 in legal and accommodation fees, as well as £2,250 in fines.
Ms De Los Santos was travelling from Istanbul back to New York after a brief getaway and had a layover in the UAE with a friend when things quickly turned sour.
Passing through the airport security, officials were alerted to a brace Ms De Los Santos was wearing with under-wiring on it. She told the airport security the brace was medical and she had been mandated to wear it 24/7 after having surgery.
Read more: Veteran unable to leave UAE since 2018 amid legal battle begs for help coming home
She was then escorted to a private room where she was instructed to remove the brace, which goes around her waist, stomach and upper chest.
She was instructed to remove the brace, leaving her half naked, the student claimed. "I was feeling uncomfortable and afraid. I felt really violated," Ms De Los Santos said.
After checking the brace she was cleared to leave but unable to get the brace back on by herself, she tried to catch her friend’s attention outside to ask for her help.
The 21-year-old “gently touched” one of the female customs officer’s arms as she tried to motion to her friend.
But Ms De Los Santos was then accused of "assaulting and insulting" the female customs officer, which she denied, and was detained.
A travel ban was then imposed on her, forbidding her from flying back to the US.
Since mid-July, Ms De Los Santos has moved from hotel to hotel while waiting for court hearings and has been forced to fork out $50,00 in accommodation and legal costs.
On August 24 the student was fined AED 10,000 ($2,722), which should have enabled her to leave the UAE, but this was prohibited after customs officials appealed the sentence.
Ms Stirling, chief executive of the non-profit Detained in Dubai, said: "Elizabeth boarded her flight home to New York late Tuesday night. The news that her sentence would be commuted was a welcome end to Elizabeth’s hellish 5 months in Dubai that left her humiliated, traumatised and out of pocket US$50,000.
"Elizabeth was falsely accused of assaulting and insulting a customs official when she was stripped and humiliated upon entering the desert city during a transit stop."
Ms Stirling added: "We are of course thankful that Elizabeth is on her way home but is that really a happy ending? She should have been home in May. Instead, she has been left with the scars of an incomprehensibly traumatic experience for a young student, she has lost US$50,000 that she will never be compensated for. Furthermore, she’s been convicted on the basis of mere allegations, sentenced to a year’s prison, fined and deported. That in itself is a disgrace.
"A judge previously ordered she pay a fine of around $2,700 which she did and that could have been the end of it. The customs officers weren’t satisfied though. They appealed the sentence and told her they wanted to see her in jail. The vindictiveness of accusers is largely driven by the likelihood that they will be offered compensation to drop the case.
"The government of Dubai should forbid workers from accepting compensatory payments as it only encourages workers to make false allegations. Dubai’s justice system is routinely misused to extort victims and it’s about time the US state department updates its travel warnings to reflect this common practice."
Ms Stirling said: "Elizabeth faced degrading, painful and humiliating searches when she transited through the international hub from Istanbul to New York but the nightmare has not ended.:
