The mother of Shezanne Cassim, an American jailed in Abu Dhabi for making a parody video on YouTube about youth culture in the United Arab Emirates, said Tuesday she just wants her son to come home.
Cassim's mother, Jean, told CNN's "New Day" that her message to UAE officials would be to "understand that he did not mean any harm. Please send him home."
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Cassim, 29, a U.S. citizen from Woodbury, Minn., was accused of endangering the national security of the UAE, and has been imprisoned since his arrest in April. A court
sentenced him Monday to one year in prison, and he was fined approximately $2,700.
Cassim's mother, who talks to her son about once a week, said it was "so sad to hear him call from a cell." Her concerns are for his "physical safety and well being."
"What I sincerely believe is he's certainly not happy where he is," she said.
Cassim's brother, Sherron, said efforts by U.S. officials to win Shezanne's release had not been successful. He maintained the family now feared that delays in sentencing would prolong his brother's captivity. Jean Cassim asked for help from any source to get her son released.
"We're just hoping that somebody somewhere will help us to bring my son home," she said.
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