UAE 'closely following the case of its citizen' Telegram founder Pavel Durov as France brings charges

The UAE released a statement that it would be monitoring the case of its citizen, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested on Saturday immediately after traveling to France and charged with 12 offenses including complicity in the possession and distribution of child pornography and drugs and money laundering. It also has requested France allow him consular access.

"The UAE is closely following the case of its citizen Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, who was arrested by the French authorities in Paris–Le Bourget Airport, emphasizing that the UAE has submitted a request to the Government of the French Republic to provide him with all the necessary consular services in an urgent manner," the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign affairs stated.

Durov is a Russian-born French-Emirati citizen, per Politico. His app provides end-to-end encryption messaging which allows users to have their chats kept inaccessible to third parties and the charges against him are all related to the lack of moderation of private messages on the platform. Durov's arrest has spurred global backlash, however French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Monday that his detainment is "in no way a political decision."

Durov faces 20 years in prison for his charges which are as follows:
1. Complicity: web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group
2. Refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law
3. Complicity: possessing pornographic images of minors
4. Complicity: distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in organized group
5. Complicity: acquiring, transporting, possessing, offering or selling narcotic substances
6. Complicity: offering, selling or making available, without legitimate reason, equipment, tools, programs or data designed for or adapted to get access to and to damage the operation of an automated data processing system
7. Complicity: organized fraud
8. Criminal association with a view to committing a crime or an offense punishable by 5 or more years of imprisonment
9. Laundering of the proceeds derived from organized group’s offences and crimes
10. Providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration
11. Providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration
12. Importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration