{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mccollum.house.gov/press-release/mccollum-united-arab-emirates-should-immediately-release-minnesotan-shezanne-cassim", "McCollum: United Arab Emirates Should Immediately Release Minnesotan Shezanne Cassim from Jail", "2013-12-10", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Betty McCollum", "M001143", "mccollum.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) issued the following statement regarding the imprisonment of Mr. Shezanne Cassim of Woodbury, MN in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for posting a spoof YouTube video.\u00a0 At a time when Dubai is hosting an international film festival and was recently awarded the Expo 2020 World Fair, the imprisonment of an American and his friends for posting a satirical video on-line exposes the UAE\u2019s intellectual repression and disdain for free speech.\n\u201cIt is appalling that Shezanne Cassim continues to be imprisoned in the UAE for the crime of posting an innocent video on YouTube.\u00a0 The authorities of the UAE should release him from prison immediately.\u00a0 This incident exposes the fact that intellectual freedom and free speech, which are basic human values, do not exist in the UAE regardless of how many Western businesses and American universities are seduced by petrol dollars to locate there.\u201d\n\u201cAmericans in the UAE beware \u2013 your words and ideas can get you imprisoned indefinitely.\u201d\nCongresswoman Betty McCollum serves on the House Appropriations Committee.\u00a0 She is Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus.\n####", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mccollum.house.gov/press-release/mccollum-united-arab-emirates-should-immediately-release-minnesotan-shezanne-cassim"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.462915912270546, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}