U.S. lawyer with ties to Khashoggi is freed

Asim Ghafoor, an American lawyer detained in the United Arab Emirates since mid-July, was released early Saturday, concluding an effort by members of U.S. Congress and Muslim advocacy groups to free him. They had raised concerns that he was being politically targeted because of his ties to Jamal Khashoggi, a murdered Saudi journalist.

The UAE had detained Ghafoor in July after convicting him in absentia of money laundering and tax evasion. He had been at the airport in Dubai awaiting a flight to Istanbul.

His sentence was three years, to be followed by deportation, in addition to a fine of $1.36 million and confiscation of the money the court said he had transferred illegally through the country: about $4.9 million.

But an Emirati court revoked his jail term Wednesday after Ghafoor appealed, although it upheld his conviction.

Ghafoor, who lives in Virginia and works in Washington, D.C., had helped set up a human rights group with Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post who was murdered in 2018 by Saudi agents in Turkey.