Work-related rant on FACEBOOK lands American man in a Middle Eastern jail

posted on: Mar 5, 2015

Ryan Pate, a 30-year-old helicopter mechanic from Florida, used the social networking site to moan about a dispute over sick leave with the company he was working for in the United Arab Emirates.

He was in Florida at the time of the post but was ordered to report to the police station when he returned to Abu Dhabi last month.

He was then arrested for breaking an Emirates law on slandering your employer.

Pate says he spent the next 10 days in prison but is now free on bail, awaiting his trial on 17 March.

If convicted, he could face up to five years in jail and a hefty fine of up to $50,000, according to American news sites.

Pate said in a phone interview earlier this week: “I just couldn’t register it in my head because as an American growing up in the United States, the First Amendment right is just ingrained in my brain.

“I never even entertained the fact that I would wind up in prison out here for something I put on Facebook in the United States.”

Source: www.express.co.uk