Somerset man pardoned in Dubai drugs charge

www.dubaitourism.ae

A Somerset man who has been in a Dubai jail for carrying drugs was granted a royal pardon and freed, according to his family.

Rik Lynn, a father of two and resident of Westfield, near Radstock, was sentenced to four years in jail on Christmas Day when a small quantity of marijuana was found in his backpack.

Lynn has maintained throughout that he had no idea how the marijuana came to be in his bag.

The man’s mother reported that Dubai’s leader, Sheik Mohammed, had granted the pardon and that her son was on his way home.

Family and friends had campaign for his release since he was jailed and established a webpage called “Free Rik Lynn”, which received support from over 2,000 people.

Rick Jones, who started the campaign, commented to BBC News: “It just developed naturally. I managed to get people on email in authority to see if that would help.”

Sheik Mohammed pardoned Lynn last week following a plea of clemency by his lawyer.

Shaun Salmon, Lynn’s brother-in-law, said: “It was very unexpected. We were told that you only get one chance of a letter of clemency and you’ve got to get it right.”

Thanks to news.bbc.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.dubaitourism.ae