Bronx college student returns to US following 5-month detainment in Dubai prison
The advocacy group Detained in Dubai was able to help the student get her charges dropped.
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A Bronx college student is finally safe and back in the United States after being detained in a Dubai prison for the last five months.
Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos, 21, is a student at Lehman College who was sentenced to one year in prison in Dubai after being wrongfully accused of assaulting and insulting a Dubai airport customs official in July.
De Los Santos was subjected to painful and degrading searching from staff and has lost $50,000 in expenses and lawyer fees.
“We immediately reached out to the UAE,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres. “My team was in touch with the consulate in New York … we were putting enormous pressure on the State Department to intervene on her behalf.”
The advocacy group Detained in Dubai, which helps support foreign nationals who have been detained and prosecuted in the United Arab Emirates, was able to help De Los Santos get her charges dropped.
