Student who faced year in Dubai prison after ‘airport altercation’ is allowed to leave country

A student who was facing a year in a UAE prison after she was accused of “assaulting and insulting” staff while transiting through the airport in Dubai has been allowed to return home.

Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos, 21, was “ecstatic” when police commuted her sentence and she was finally permitted to fly home to New York City.

She had intended to spend just 10 hours in Dubai International Airport as she transited from Istanbul, Turkey, to the US in July with a friend on a short trip.

But an advocacy group representing her claimed she endured “degrading, painful and humiliating” treatment during a strip search where she was left “half naked”. Following an altercation with local authorities, she was banned from flying out of the Emirate.

The student then spent months fighting a legal battle while having to fork out around £41,000 on expenses and court costs.

According to Detained in Dubai, which represents people fighting legal action in the UAE, Ms Polanco De Los Santos is “ecstatic to be returning to the US after five months of anguish”.

Radha Stirling, CEO of the charity, alleged: “Elizabeth’s hellish five months in Dubai left her humiliated, traumatised and out of pocket $50,000. Elizabeth was falsely accused of assaulting and insulting a customs official when she was stripped and humiliated upon entering the desert city during a transit stop.”

Ms Stirling has warned that more needs to be done to protect those travelling through Dubai.

“Tourists are vulnerable to vindictive, false and unevidenced allegations that could leave them languishing in notorious jails. They are vulnerable to extortion schemes like we see from airport staff, rental car agents, taxi drivers and so on.”

According to Ms Stirling, Elizabeth’s ordeal began on 14 July as she went through the international hub of Dubai Airport on her way home to New York with a pal. She said that Elizabeth was mandated by surgeons to wear a medical “waist trainer suit”, which goes around her stomach and upper chest area.

But the charity boss claimed that Dubai airport officials demanded she remove it, and she was ushered into a booth where female officials insisted she take it off. Elizabeth’s mother told Detained in Dubai the staff were “speaking Arabic and laughing at her” and said she had felt “really embarrassed and taken advantage of”.

Later, Elizabeth said she had “gently touched” one of the security staff after pleading with them to allow her friend into the booth where she was being searched. But she was then detained for “touching the female customs officer” and spent several hours in the room while the women filed a complaint against her.

Elizabeth was later allowed to leave after signing some papers written in Arabic, but found out she was banned from flying a few hours later, the advocacy group alleged.

Dubai Airport has been contacted for comment.