- A 21-year-old New York college student was given a one-year prison sentence after an airport search.
- Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos was accused of assault after nudging an airport official, she said.
- Americans are falling victim to the United Arab Emirates' "backwards justice system," a lawyer said.
A 21-year-old New York college student was sentenced to one year in prison for "assaulting and insulting" Dubai airport staff after she gently touched a security officer's arm, legal experts said.
Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos was transiting through Dubai International Airport from Istanbul to New York with a friend in July when she faced "degrading, painful, and humiliating searches," Detained in Dubai, an organization that provides legal assistance to foreigners in the United Arab Emirates, said in a press release.
The pair had chosen a 10-hour layover in Dubai over Paris.
"Elizabeth only intended to transit through Dubai for six hours, but she's been there for months on end and has lost $50,000 in expenses and lawyers costs," Detained in Dubai founder Radha Stirling said in a statement.
"She's now been told she has a one-year prison sentence but that if all 'goes well', she will only be detained until she can book a flight out of the UAE," Stirling added.
After taking off a doctor-mandated waist-training brace upon request from female security officers at the airport, Polanco De Los Santos said they refused to help her put it back on — a process that usually takes two people — and blocked her exit, per an earlier statement from Detained in Dubai.
At this point, she "gently touched" the arm of one of the security guards so they could get her friend to help, the press release said.
Officials then told her she'd be detained for "touching the female customs officer," the report said.
For Polanco De Los Santos, a student at Lehman College, the past few months moving from one hotel to another and waiting for court hearings have been miserable, as Insider previously reported.
And while she may not serve the full year, Polanco De Los Santos will still be detained until she is allowed to leave the country, Stirling said.
"Even if she is allowed to be deported tomorrow, she will remain in prison until then, not knowing whether there will be further delays or whether, in fact, she will end up forced to serve the whole sentence," Stirling said.
"This is an extreme situation for a 21-year-old to go through," she added.
Polanco De Los Santos is not the only American citizen to have fallen victim to the United Arab Emirates' "backwards justice system," Stirling said.
Filing a criminal or civil case against someone in Dubai triggers a complicated legal process where the accused party is prohibited from leaving the country.
Local scammers frequently rely on unsubstantiated claims to get significant settlement payments, Stirling said, citing the cases of Tierra Allen and Peter Clark.
Tierra Allen had to pay about $1,300 to have a travel ban lifted by local Dubai authorities, who arrested and detained her for months for "screaming in public" following a car accident, according to Detained in Dubai.
The organization also highlighted the case of Peter Clark, a Californian who paid $50,000 after being arrested and detained in Dubai for two months on charges of violating the country's drug laws, after legally smoking cannabis before flying to Dubai.
"American citizens need to be aware that Dubai is a dangerous place to visit," Stirling said, adding: "Any country where a mere unevidenced allegation can result in lengthy imprisonment is an unacceptable choice for tourists, and Dubai needs to work hard to stop this kind of legal abuse."
The UAE's Ministry of Justice didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.