Appeals court thwarts Maduro ally’s claim of diplomat status

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — A federal appeals panel has thwarted an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to be recognized as a foreign diplomat. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel did not rule of the merits of businessman Alex Saab’s argument that his detention during a refueling stop on his way to Iran violated U.S. law and numerous international treating protecting diplomats. Instead, it said it was as issue best decided by the Miami federal judge overseeing the criminal case. Saab’s attorneys have argued that he was traveling to Iran as a duly appointed special envoy of Maduro’s socialist government when he was arrested on a U.S. warrant nearly two years ago in Cape Verde. But prosecutors have cast doubt on those claims.