UN experts urged India to immediately release a British middleman extradited from the UAE over a helicopter deal, in a complex case with suspected links to the foiled flight of Dubai’s Sheikha Latifa.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found that Christian Michel, who has been held in India since December 2018 after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates, was being detained arbitrarily, according to conclusions seen Thursday by AFP.
The WGAD raised concerns that Michel’s extradition “was a de facto swap” for India’s capture and return of a high-profile detainee to Dubai in March 2018, without providing more details.
But sources familiar with the case noted that Sheikha Latifa — the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the UAE’s vice president and prime minister — attempted to flee her homeland that same month.
She fled on a boat that was intercepted by commandos off the coast of India, according to her…
