Next time your airline cancels a flight and leaves you stewing at the airport, just think of James Hunter and you might not feel so bad about your predicament. Hunter, an airport security specialist employed by Global Strategies Group, was sent to improve safety at Baghdad’s international airport, but he never got there, and instead spent 37 terrifying days in a Middle Eastern prison.

 

The snafu began when his airline, Lufthansa, cancelled his July 30, 2008, flight from Frankfurt to Dubai, and he accepted the German airline’s alternative to fly on Etihad Airways to Abu Dhabi, which, like Dubai, is in the United Arab Emirates, a nation with an advanced economy, but a medieval judicial system. As someone who carries guns and rifles in his checked luggage for his security work, Hunter normally gets assurances in writing from airlines to make sure everything is okay with his “luggage.” But he accepted only a verbal okay from Lufthansa and Etihad that his reroute to Abu Dhabi wouldn’t cause problems. Big mistake.

 

Upon landing in the tiny emirate, Hunter, the only African American on the flight, was arrested and charged with trafficking arms. After four days of interrogations at a police-controlled airport hotel, he was transferred to a local jail and then to prison. He spent more than a month at Al Wathba Prison, infamous for its stonings, rapes, beatings and murders, and was denied legal representation at his trial. Hunter was incarcerated in a vermin-infested cell with 28 other inmates, even though the cell was designed for six. With the help of the U.S. embassy, he was finally allowed to pay a $1,500 fine and he was released. However, he still had to spend another 17 days at a hotel in Abu Dhabi until the government allowed him to leave the country. But first he had to pay more than $7,000 for his hotel stay.

 

Then, his employer fired him.

 

Hunter is now suing Lufthansa and Etihad for $360 million.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Airline Mistake Sent Him to Hellish Prison In Abu Dhabi, U.S. Contractor Says (by Dan McCue, Courthouse News Service)

Hunter v. Lufthansa and Etihad (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York) (PDF)