UAE releases Lebanese physician held for weeks over a tweet

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has released a Lebanese doctor who had been held in the oil-rich country for four weeks over a tweet he wrote years ago. Thursday’s release of Richard Kharrat was confirmed by a person familiar with the case in Beirut. Lebanese authorities have been following the case with UAE officials since Kharrat’s arrest early in April. Social media is an often-perilous space in the UAE, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms where the government retains tight control over traditional media and uses the courts to prosecute those who express opposition or criticism online.