‘They Just Left Us’: Family of American Held in Dubai Prison Feels US Abandoned Him for Brittney Griner

The family of an American who has been rotting away in prison in Dubai says that the U.S. has abandoned him, with the final insult being Joe Biden’s efforts to free WNBA player Brittney Griner from a Russian jail while ignoring his status.

Zack Shahin and his family maintain that his arrest in 2015 on financial fraud charges and his subsequent 2017 conviction and a hefty 49-year prison sentence was politically motivated because his United Arab Emirates-sponsored real estate company was targeted strictly for internal UAE political reasons.

When UAE ruler Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum died in 2006, many of his ministers were eventually deposed, and their business dealing shut down. Shahin’s company, named Deyaar, was backed by then Dubai finance minister Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash, who was later charged with embezzlement in 2009.

Shahin’s family says he was caught up in the country’s political intrigue and used as a pawn to attack the form UAE leader’s associates.

The financial fraud that Shahin was convicted of cannot be substantiated by auditors, according to Fox News, which reported, “The big four global accountancy firms audited Deyaar for the years Zack was CEO and found no financial losses or evidence of the financial crimes he was accused of.”

“My dad’s just an ordinary American guy who started working hard to make a name for himself,” Zack’s son, Ramy, told Fox. “He took this little real estate company and made it what it became and built so much of what Dubai is known for. And then they just took him down.”

The Shahin family felt especially abandoned as Joe Biden worked to free Brittney Griner. At the same time Biden was so publicly worried over Griner, the Shahin family was trying to get Zack released over humanitarian concerns due to his rapidly failing health.

But, while Griner’s case was elevated to a national issue, the State Department did nothing to help the Shahins.

“They completely abandoned us . . . they completely pushed us to the side,” Ramy added. “Maybe we’re not newsworthy enough for them — we’re not famous, we’re just an ordinary family — and they just left us.”

Unfortunately, Zack may be on borrowed time. He is suffering from a host of medical issues that developed while in custody.

Describing Zack’s horrid living conditions, Fox reported:

The bright fluorescent lights are always on in the concrete cell the American citizen shares with 60 other prisoners. The noisy air conditioner runs 24 hours a day. The air is damp and cold and smells like decaying flesh.

Zack sleeps on a plastic mattress with a dirty blanket and in clothes that have never been washed. Prisoners are rarely let out of their cells.

The U.S. citizen suffers from a growing list of health problems. He has been in a UAE hospital for multiple operations and amputations as doctors have tried and failed to get ahead of recurring infections. As a result, he has lung infections and multiple skin lesions, and bed sores. The family fears there are even worse issues but have not been permitted to see the man’s medical records.

Martin Lonergan, a British activist who met Zack in prison, told Fox News that Zack is “rotting” in prison.

“If you can imagine a man is dying because he’s rotting … they’re cutting bits of Zack away, and he’s dying trying to fight the infection,” Lonergan said.

“My dad has no hope. It hurts me every time I talk to him because he lost hope a long time ago. He’s a shell of what he used to be,” Zack said.

“I’m going to keep fighting until he gets out,” Ramy exclaimed. “And if I fail, then so be it. But I’ll never let this go.”

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