United Arab Emirates Incident
In July, 2006, Austin was arrested and held in a United Arab Emirates prison on drug charges. After fellow songwriter U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch interceded on Austin's behalf, the UAE consulate in Washington D.C. placed calls to Lionel Richie for a character reference.
Richie recounts for the New York Times:
It was, 'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin.' I said, 'Listen, this is a great guy. He's done a great job for the community. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.'
Austin pleaded guilty in court, apologized for his actions, and was subsequently granted a royal pardon by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Read more about this topic: Dallas Austin
Famous quotes containing the words united, arab and/or incident:
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
““It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognise out of a number of facts which are incidental and which are vital.... I would call your attention to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident.””
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)