A Dubai court sentenced an American businessman to 15 years in prison today after convicting him on theft and fraud charges.
Zack Shahin was sentenced at the Dubai Criminal Court over a 2007 Texas land deal, according to the Abu Dhabi government-owned daily, The National. Three other Americans received similar sentences in absentia. The defendants were also fined 56 million dirhams (USD 15.3 million).
A spokesman for the US Embassy in the Emirates, David Duerden, said the mission is following Shahin's case "very closely."
"We are aware that today a sentence was announced in a case against Mr Shahin. Legal proceedings are continuing and we will continue to provide consular services to Mr. Shahin," he said. Shahin's lawyers could not be reached.
Shahin is a former head of Dubai-based property company Deyaar Development who was detained in a 2008 embezzlement probe. He staged a hunger strike in 2012, then escaped to Yemen after being granted bail but was caught and returned to Dubai.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a separate judgment in 2014.
