Appeals court thwarts Maduro ally’s claim of diplomat status

MIAMI — A federal appeals panel has thwarted an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to be recognized as a foreign diplomat, leaving it to a lower court to decide for now whether he is immune from prosecution. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel did not rule Monday on the merits of businessman Alex Saab’s argument that his detention, during a refueling stop on his way to Iran, violated U.S. law and numerous international treating protecting diplomats. “The parties did not have the opportunity to fully develop the record, and the district court did not have the opportunity to weigh the evidence, concerning Saab Moran’s claim,” the appeals panel said in its brief ruling, “Accordingly, we remand the case to the district court to consider in the first instance whether Saab Moran is a foreign diplomat and immune from prosecution.” Saab’s attorneys have argued that he was traveling to Iran as a duly appointed special envoy of Maduro’s socialist government when he was arrested on a U.S. warrant nearly two years ago in Cape Verde. Maduro’s officials consider Saab a “kidnapping” victim and have tried to rally popular support in Venezuela to demand his freedom. Recently unsealed court records show that in the years prior to his arrest Saab had been an “active law enforcement source” helping agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigate allegations of bribery of top Venezuelan officials.