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Mark Zdechlik and Tim Nelson
St. Paul, Minn.

U of M grad jailed in Dubai is sentenced

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Shezanne Cassim
Shezanne Cassim of Woodbury, Minn.
Courtesy Shervon Cassim / Via AP

A University of Minnesota graduate who put a video spoof on YouTube is being sent to prison in the United Arab Emirates.

The family of Shazzane Cassim learned he's been sentenced to a year in prison by a court in Dubai, after being held in that country already for eight months.

Authorities say he posted a video that violates a UAE cybercrime law.

Susan Burns, a Minnesota attorney helping the family, says Cassim was also fined 10,000 dirham, the equivalent of about $2,500, and ordered deported.

It isn't clear yet whether the sentence will include the time Cassim has already been held. Burns says his family hoped that lawyers in the United Arab Emirates would get his sentence reduced and get him out of the country quickly.

Burns says Cassim's family in Woodbury is disappointed by the news, but still hopes he can be back in the U.S. soon.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she's working with the U.S. ambassador to get Cassim home as soon as possible.

"I'm somewhat optimistic he'll get credit for time served because of what the ambassador told me today," Klobuchar said Monday.

"Again we're not certain, and I just hope that deporting him earlier, which would allow him to come home, would mean that his sentence would be more in line with some of the other sentences that the other defendants got."

Klobuchar described the situation as "incredibly frustrating."

Cassim's video is a 20-minute mock documentary about a fictitious martial art called Satwa fighting -- throwing sandals through newspapers and calling for help using social media.

His case has attracted the attention of Minnesota's congressional delegation, the New York Times and CNN. Funny or Die, a comedy company co-founded by actor Will Farrell, has also taken up Cassim's cause.

Here's the video: