A man charged with possession of weapons accessories in Abu Dhabi has spoken to CNN about his prison experience in the UAE.
Nicholas Moody, 23, said he will accept the judge's decision regarding his conviction but he hoped to be home in time to spend Christmas with his family.
Mr Moody, who served for some time with the California National Guard in Iraq, was in the country as an inactive guardsman and working with a security company.
He was arrested on September 29 on his way back to the US from Iraq. He planned to stop in Abu Dhabi for 18 hours but was found in possession of a pistol grip, a buttstock, a plastic front grip, a single-point sling adaptor, a buckle from a single point sling, a cleaning kit and an armourer's wrench.
He said he had the items because he had recently resigned from his position and they were his personal property.
"They are not weapons themselves, and cannot be assembled into a weapon," he said.
CNN contacted Mr Moody by telephone yesterday and he said he did not know the items were illegal.
However, he was willing to accept his fate.
"The rules are the rules, so whatever the judge rules ... I will accept," he said.
"I still remain hopeful," he added. "I'm hoping there's a still a chance that this will be resolved in time to make it home to spend Christmas with my family."
* The National
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Paltan
Producer: JP Films, Zee Studios
Director: JP Dutta
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Luv Sinha and Harshvardhan Rane
Rating: 2/5
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