New York Business Traveler Fears Prison Time in Dubai Over 'Mistake' by Police

Joshua Rhett Miller FOX News 05/13/2011 18:53

Adam Foster, of Burdett, N.Y.

An American working in Dubai who faces up to seven years in prison there if convicted on a theft charge told FoxNews.com he was beaten into confessing -- and is now fearing the worst.

Adam Foster of Burdett, N.Y., was arrested in February as he was preparing to return home from Dubai when officers in the Middle Eastern country found police handcuffs in his luggage. The 30-year-old field service technician for Cameron Compression Systems in Buffalo, N.Y., told FoxNews.com he found the handcuffs on the street and collected them as a souvenir. He now faces up to seven years when a judge announces a verdict, expected next week.

"It was a harmless thing," Foster told FoxNews.com on Friday from his hotel in the United Arab Emirates. "I'm hoping that Dubai will realize it’s a mistake and let me go, but it's really hard to be hopeful."

Rene Terreri, director of human resources at the New York firm, told FoxNews.com that Foster has visited Cameron Compression System's Dubai office every day since being released on bail in March. Company officials have since been working with Foster's attorney, Yousef Hammad, to bring the nine-year employee back to the United States, Terreri said.

"We're just doing anything we can," she told FoxNews.com. "He's a good employee; we're just kind of waiting now. Our goal is to bring him home."