Ted Cruz Warns UAE ‘Americans Are Watching’ As Doctor Says Imprisoned US Citizen Has Only Weeks To Live

Zack Shahin’s life has been one of great suffering! The 58-year-old man from Texas ended up in Dubai prison for fifteen years and is now living his last few days in ill health. A doctor from Houston had reviewed his medical files and said that Shahin’s health condition is at its absolute worst with multiple issues like cardiovascular, neurological, thyroid, gastric, and prostate illness. He has been diagnosed with multiple infections that are causing his flesh to rot. His family has time and again stood by his plea of innocence while alleging that the US State Department hasn’t moved a finger to get him out of the grievous condition. 

Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions of the effects of pseudomonas infection that might be triggering for some individuals. Reader discretion is advised. 

Zack Shahin, an American citizen, is dying in a Dubai prison

In an official letter to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Dr.Sanford Lubetkin, a board-certified doctor in internal medicine and cardiology stated that the patient has disease in multiple organ systems and his long-term survival chances are looking bleak.

Dr.Lubetkin stressed the fact that his overall health condition is very bad and pleaded with the State Department to take necessary actions for Shahin’s release from the Dubai prison.

The family of Shahin has also sent the medical records to the State Department as they were informed that the Department was not able to procure the documents.          

According to an email received from the State Department to Shahin’s family, they assured that the matter has been taken up by the Department and that they will contact them back when they have some substantial update on him. As per sources, the US State Department has been in continuous contact with Shahin since Jan 18 and they have also communicated the release request made by the family to the Dubai authorities on account of his deteriorating health.

A US State Department Spokesperson said that the United States always puts its citizens as its foremost priority and they are committed to providing the necessary assistance to its citizens who are abroad. As part of the efforts, he said they are in continuous contact with the UAE authorities to make sure that Shahin receives proper treatment and medical care. 

Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas has also got involved in the campaign to release Shahin. He has been contacting the State Department and the UAE officials regarding Shahin’s release. Sen.

Cruz said that it is high time that Shahin is brought back home and reunited with his family. He also noted that it is no longer about whether Shahin had committed a crime or not but at this stage it’s about basic human compassion. Cruz said that the Emirate nation has always been a close ally to the US and he hopes that they would do the right thing in this case too as Americans are aware and are watching this case closely.   

Zack Shahin was in charge of a successful real estate development company in the UAE till 2008 and he had to resign from the company following a political issue after the death of the ruler of Dubai.

Shahin was arrested and charged with multiple cases of financial crimes including embezzlement and fraud. But according to Shahin’s family, the charges against him couldn’t be proved as four major auditing firms had gone through all the documents of the company while Shahin was the in-charge and didn’t find any proof of financial losses. 

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According to a co-prison mate, Martin Lonergan, who was detained together with Shahin till 2020, the prison conditions were very bad and Shahin had lost all hope in his life while he was literally rotting. As per the medical reports, Shahin had undergone a host of surgeries since 2019 and recently surgery was done in October last year for removing the rotting flesh from the infection caused by Pseudomonas.

As his previous surgeries didn’t yield any positive results, the infection has now spread to his lungs. On top of all these problems, he has also developed a hernia that cannot be operated on because of failing health. The deplorable living conditions in the Dubai prison have caused neurological issues for Shahin and an Emirati doctor recommended spinal cord surgery.

As part of the treatment procedures, Shahin has to have around 22 medications every day and because of various factors, he can manage to complete only up to four of them at a particular time.

Shahin’s family had also alleged previously that the US State Department couldn’t pay much attention to his case because they were trying to release the WNBA star Brittney Griner from the Russian prison. According to Shahin’s son, they were regularly sending mercy letters to the UAE officials through the US state officials. The Dubai administration on the other hand was assisting the US in a prisoner exchange program that led to the release of Griner.