US urges fair judicial proceedings from UAE

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department is urging the United Arab Emirates to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings amid reports the country has held a prominent activist for the last two months.

Spokesman Edgar Vasquez says these standards should be upheld in "all cases." He had no details on the case of Nasser bin Ghaith, an academic whom rights groups say was arrested on Aug. 18. Emirati authorities haven't revealed his whereabouts since.

Amnesty International said in August that bin Ghaith was possibly detained for tweeting about violence in Egypt. Authorities held him for several months in 2011 for "publicly insulting" top officials in an online forum, before pardoning him under international pressure.

Human Rights Watch said bin Ghaith's situation was consistent with past cases of arbitrary detention by U.A.E.