UAE protests ‘abusive’ treatment of national in US

The CCTV footage from the scene that went viral shows 41-year-old Ahmed Al Menhali- from Abu Dhabi- standing outside his hotel talking on his phone in Arabic in his traditional kandoura when he was herded by five officers all pointing their guns at him, causing him to suffer a stroke and be admitted to hospital.

The foreign ministry said in a statement it had summoned US deputy ambassador Ethan Goldrich to protest the “abusive treatment by the OH police of a UAE citizen” and to deplore the filming of his arrest which it described as defamation.

A hotel employee had suspected Menhali had pledged allegiance to ISIL (also known as ISIS), while speaking Arabic on the phone.

A video of the incident posted on YouTube showed several policemen armed with rifles take down Menhali and then handcuff and search him.

“They told the police that I was pledging allegiance to ISIS, but [said] nothing about weapons”.

Avon Police Department said they received a 911 call from the family of a woman working as a clerk at the Fairfield Inn and Suites. This is not the first time the police departments in the U.S. have shown a lack of cultural awareness and insensitivity.

Menhali had been recovering from a stroke in OH since April, according to The National, a UAE news site.

“The UAE cares for the safety of its citizens and, therefore, demands clarifications about this incident”, it said in a statement carried by WAM state news agency.

Following the incident, the United Arab Emirates has warned its citizens to avoid wearing traditional Arab dress overseas.

The statements do not explicitly link the new guidance to the OH incident. “I had several injuries and bled from the forceful nature of their arrest”, Menhali said, quoted in The National daily. “Police need more diversity training”.

Officials from the Cleveland suburb of Avon, where the incident happened, had also apologised to Menhali, according to Julia Shearson, executive director of the Cleveland Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Republican has been criticised for calling for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the USA, which CAIR has blamed for a spike in anti-Muslims incidents.

Anti-Muslim incidents have spiked in the United States on the back of deadly IS attacks in the West, which prompted presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.