Last week, the Petition to Free Diz went around the blogosphere. You saw it on LiveJournal, you saw it on MySpace and Facebook, you saw it on Warren Ellis, Lithium Picnic, YouTube. People went out of their way to help Diz, and many were kind enough to even post it in places where it was totally off-topic - thanks, steamfashion LJ community! Thank you all for your willingness to pause your regular programming to help us spread the word. Hopefully everyone reading this will have signed the petition at this point, but if not, please do so now!
The bad news is that Diz is still not out; you can read about his most current status here (scroll down). The good news is that, thanks to everyone’s efforts in keeping this story going, the story has exploded all over the mainstream press. We are not letting this go, and the world outside of our circle is starting to take notice; both in the European and the Middle East.
Mildred has posted a comprehensive list of places where the story has appeared, and here are some highlights:
Two choice excerpts about the situation:
“Cat sad he’s psychologically preparing for 3-6 months and added it’s obviously not how he intended to start 2008, but he’s very much focused on moving on with the rest of his life. He said there are many in the facility who have given up hope, some have even accepted this is their life and don’t even want to get out of bed. He said he’s become a bit of a counselor to the others and keeps their spirits high, motivates them etc., quite the Anthony Robbins of the detention center” - friend who visited Diz in jail
“What could Dubai possibly have to gain, either financially or in reputation, by prosecuting innocent people? We’re hearing from a number of sources that police officials are given rewards in return for prosecutions, as part of the new crackdown on drugs in Dubai. This is a difficult thing to prove, as it’s obviously quite cloak and dagger, but would account for why travelers are being singled out and prosecuted for seemingly nothing.” - Mil’s latest update
Thank you again for raising awareness of this issue. Hopefully, thanks to your efforts, he’ll be out soon!
February 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Way to go, Diz! And way to go to all of us who are doing what we can to spread the word and gain support for his release. Thanks for the update, Coilhouse.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:06 am
That’s great news about getting it up on the BBC. I’m amazed that he’s not only holding up but helping others too.
I notice that most of the major media outlets that have publicized the story so far are in Europe. If it spread to more US outlets too, I think that would greatly increase the pressure on Dubai’s rulers. Salon and the The Associated Press are two that come to mind immediately, especially now that the BBC’s got it up.
I’m sure others out there can think of even more. If they get enough e-mails about the story, someone will take notice.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Ampers, that’s a great idea. Salon, AP, Wired, we’re gonna get on it.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
“He said he’s become a bit of a counselor to the others and keeps their spirits high, motivates them etc., quite the Anthony Robbins of the detention center” — That’s the spirit! What a trooper!
Great job everyone! There’s really inspiring positive momentum around this. A bit more grind and this situation HAS to get resolved. Hopefully Diz and the others get out, Dubai shifts their corrupt system, and everyone gets to come home safe with the whole experience ultimately serving as a badge of honor.
Yeah the U.S. should be on this too. I’ll contribute some emails.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I have been so out of the loop and just found out about this. Please email me and let me know if I can help. I know people here in NYC from several news media outlets so pls contact me if you need help in that manner (you may have already contacted these people)…
February 8th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Keep up the good work Mildred. With everyone working to get the news out it can’t be long until Diz is set free.
We keep you both in our prayers and thoughts
February 9th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Good to hear and see the word get out more. Wish I could do something with a bit more impact outside of telling friends about this…so if there is any grunt work that needs doing…lemme know.
“police officials are given rewards in return for prosecutions, as part of the new crackdown on drugs in Dubai…”
I’m not shocked if that’s the case. The idea being if you offer the police officials such incentives they are less likely to become corrupted by international drug cartels. Naive thinking of course…
February 9th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Hopefully he’ll be able to help some of the others who’ve given up hope. It seems like for some of those that’s about all they’d have left.
February 9th, 2008 at 4:12 am
i’m appalled that a “tourist” community would stoop so low ! what really baffles me, is how our major news carriers refuse to air this nightly til something is done ? why doesn’t our wonderful president get involved in this ? he seems to love going into other people’s countries and telling them whats’ up? how about stepping up and rescuing some innocent people rotting in jail cells ???
February 10th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
That is great coverage. Shame he’s still there. Kieran, I think Diz is german. Still, it’s worth a shot, maybe the prez can be convinced the man’s from the US?
February 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday had a brief item on tourists being stopped at the airport and held for drugs. A man with a marijuana seed on the bottom of his shoe, and one with 3 poppy seeds that had gotten onto his jacket from eating a poppy seed roll at the Heathrow Airport. I immediately thought it was related to all the publicity around this. Word is getting out.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Any more news on what’s going on?
February 28th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Thank you for all the responses on these, guys. Darksphere, the latest news is that the campaign for his release has gotten a lot of momentum on different sites, and that he now has a very good lawyer, and unfortunately a $100,000 legal bill, half of which the family has already raised. The website with the most updated information is http://www.freediz.com and there you can learn about ways to help. The best way to help right now is to donate to his legal fund.
Thank you again!