A U.S. man who spent nine months in a United Arab Emirates prison because of a satirical YouTube video has been released and is back home in Minnesota.
Shezanne Cassim said Thursday he was “tried in a textbook kangaroo court” when he was convicted last month under the country’s cybercrime decree and sentenced to a year behind bars.
He and eight others were arrested last April, six months after posting a video poking fun at a group of Dubai youth who fancy themselves as gangsters — known as the “Satwa Gs.”
READ MORE: UAE sentences American comedian to prison for YouTube spoof
The video portrays a fictitious gangster combat training academy, training participants on how to properly defend themselves by whipping shoes through the air.
Cassim said the spoof contained nothing to offend the government or anyone else. The video, titled “Ultimate Combat Training: The Deadly Satwa Gs” also began with a warning, stating that it was completely fictitious and not meant to offend anyone in the UAE.
“Imagine if you do something that’s actually critical of the government. So, it’s a warning message and we were scapegoats,” Cassim told reporters on arriving at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday.
The Sri Lanka-born, 29-year-old U.S. citizen said he spent the first four months in prison without even knowing what he had been charged with.
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“There’s a misconception that I broke a law,” Cassim said. “But I want to say that I did nothing wrong. There was nothing illegal about the video, even under UAE law.”
WATCH: The video that led to the arrest of Shezanne Cassim
The UAE’s new cybercrimes decree, which was only enacted in November 2012, provides protections against identity theft and fraud, punishes those soliciting or engaging in prostitution, and criminalizes “activities by any person who creates or runs any electronic site to send, transmit, publish or promote who creates pornographic material, gambling activities and any other indecent acts.”
It also includes a section that “criminalizes acts by anyone to insult others or to accuse others of acts which would lead to punishment or contempt by a third party, online or through any other information technology means.”
But UAE authorities have never publicly said how the video violated the decree.
Upon arriving home, Cassim told reporters “It feels great, I have access to Burger King again, so that’s like a big plus for me.”
He said he wasn’t physically abused in any way while he was in custody, but he said he was “pretty much in a cage for nine months.”
Cassim said he had no access to news or any outside information while he was in prison, so he had no idea of the international campaign fighting for his freedom.
U.S. comedians, including Funny or Die co-founders Will Farrell and Adam McKay, backed the #FreeShez campaign calling for Cassim to be freed from custody.
According to Gulf News, Cassim’s family said he was released “according to a customary practice that equates nine months of imprisonment to a one-year sentence.”
This is reportedly the first time a foreigner has been charged and convicted under the law.
He’s was one of nine people, including one Canadian, charged for posting the spoof video. Eight people including 29-year-old Cassim were given prison sentences, while one person was acquitted.
The Canadian, a Briton and another American were convicted and sentenced in absentia, according to Gulf News.
Cassim and the other foreigners convicted in the case have also been ordered to pay a 10,000 dirham (approximately $2,900 CAD) fine.
Cassim worked as a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dubai since graduating from the University of Minnesota 2006.
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