On January 26th 2008, German citizen and UK resident Cat Le-Huy (known to his friends as Diz) arrived in Dubai and was arbitrarily stopped at immigration.
He was stripped, searched and made to sign papers in Arabic that he didn't understand.
He was then held without charge in Dubai between January 26th and March 5th, 2008.
He was carrying Melatonin, which is legally sold over-the-counter in Dubai, and this was tested for contraband along with a sample of his urine and 0.003g of what the Dubai authorities believed was (and which allegedly tested positive for) hashish which was found in his bag.
Cat maintains that the alleged hashish was simply dirt.
If charged and found guilty Cat would have faced a minimum sentence of 4 years.
After weeks of heavy campaigning by friends and pressure on the Dubai authorities, Cat was released and returned to the U.K.
Although Cat has obtained a release, there are still massive financial costs to be covered and the last few months have left Cat and his partner in tens ofthousands of pounds of debt.
The fundraiser that was originally to raise the deposit for an attorney became thankfully a welcome home event, and any monies raised went to Cat, with a portion being donated to the Mel 1000 fund. Also, though Cat is back and safe, there are still literally hundreds of people in the same position who are not as lucky, and information on ways to keep the pressure up for their release was available on the night.
