US lawyer released after UAE money laundering conviction | Courts News
Asim Ghafoor, a prominent civil rights lawyer, was arrested while he was in transit through Dubai airport last month.
US citizen and civil rights lawyer Asim Ghafoor, who was convicted in the United Arab Emirates this week on money laundering charges, has been released and is on his way home.
Ghafoor, who once represented murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was freed after paying a fine, his lawyer Faisal Gill said on Friday, adding that the US embassy in the UAE helped facilitate his release.
A court on Wednesday upheld an earlier in-absentia conviction against Ghafoor, ordering him to pay a fine of 5 million dirhams ($1.4m) but overturning a three-year jail term handed down in May.
UAE officials had no immediate comment.
Ghafoor, who lives in Virginia, was in transit through Dubai airport on July 14 when he was arrested for the in-absentia conviction.
UAE’s state news agency WAM said he