"Then he made the mistake, though even in hindsight he is loath to call it such, of voicing an unwelcome opinion. The Houston businessman and U.S. citizen found himself jailed in a foreign land where most of his friends suddenly were no longer friendly. He had broken no law, except the one that need not be written: Insult the king at the peril of your life. Technically, it was not a king but only a member of the royal family from Abu Dhabi, one of the seven small states that make up the United Arab Emirates. And, technically, it was less an insult than a statement of disapproval concerning an unquestionably brutal act. No matter. Nabulsi crossed the line. He had only one thing going for him: the U.S. citizenship he had taken in 1991." (thanks ls)