UAE tells citizens to watch what they wear while traveling after tourist arrested in Ohio

The United Arab Emirates is telling citizens to "refrain from wearing the national dress" while visiting the West "to ensure their safety."

The warning comes after an Emirati man was detained at gunpoint last week in Ohio after a hotel clerk decided he was suspicious, The Washington Post reports. Ahmed al-Menhali, a 41-year-old businessman who recently suffered a stroke, was in the United States for medical treatment. When he tried to check into a Fairfield Inn and Suites in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, he was wearing a white headscarf and full-length white robe. The clerk told relatives she was worried about Menhali, and they called 911. When police arrived, Menhali was outside on his phone speaking Arabic, and they held him down and arrested him. At one point, Menhali collapsed, and he was taken to the hospital.

Menhali told Al Jazeera the clerk texted to her sister that he had "pledged my allegiance to ISIS," and he is consulting with lawyers and will "decide where to go from there." Police and town officials called the incident, which was filmed by an officer's body camera, "very regrettable," and apologized to Menhali.

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