The United Arab Emirates announced late Monday it had asked the French government to allow consular access to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who is currently in police custody in Paris.
Durov, a Russian-born French-Emirati citizen, was arrested late Saturday night and is still being held as part of a probe into allegations relating to child pornography, drug trafficking and organized crime on the Telegram messaging platform, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
“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 Abu Dhabi foreign ministry said.
Durov’s arrest triggered an international outcry, with self-proclaimed free speech advocates like billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk denouncing the detention. French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that it was “in no way a political decision” to arrest Durov.
Telegram is closing in on a billion global users and is a key communication tool for political dissidents, gangsters and criminals, and on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.