'More dangerous' for Salim Alaradi's family to stay silent about detention, advocate says

A Windsor, Ont.,family has been pushing for the United Arab Emirates to end the long detention of their husband and father, a fight that a human-rights advocate says they should never give up.

Salim Alaradi, a Libyan-Canadian businessman, has been held in the U.A.E. for more than a year.

It is not clear to his family why Alaradi was arrested or when he will be released. He hasnot been charged.

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Since his the start of his detention, his family has moved to Windsor,where they have maintained a steady campaign to bring Alaradi home.

Nick McGeehan, the United Arab Emirates researcher with Human Rights Watch, said there are many troubling elements about Alaradi's ongoing and continued detention.

"I think it's quite clear that this is a man who has been picked up on specious grounds and he should be released immediately,"McGeehan told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Friday.

"If he has done something wrong, fine charge him, produce the evidence. It shouldn't take you a year to do that,"he added, noting that if any evidence of wrongdoing existed, it would have been brought to light already.

McGeehan said he would advise Alaradi's family to keep his name in the spotlight and to keep up the pressure to bring him home.

"I think they're doing all the right things: I think they're making noise about this, I think they're pressurizing the Canadian government to do what they can,"he said.

While some might fear the risks in speaking out, McGeehan said it's likely "far more dangerous for them to stay quiet and for them to allow Salim to stay in those very dangerous conditions."

In Ottawa, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada saysofficials are aware of Alaradi's situation and are providing consular services to him and his family.

"Senior Canadian officials are in contact with the appropriate authorities in the United Arab Emirates to raise concerns regarding Mr. Alaradi's health and well-being,"a department spokesperson told CBC News in an email.