A MAN claiming to be the ambassador of a self-proclaimed state in Australia has appeared in a Dubai court charged with fraud, a local newspaper reports. The unnamed 48-year-old Iranian said in court on Tuesday that he should be treated as a diplomat because he was the ambassador of the so-called Principality of Hutt River, in Western Australia, English-language daily 7Days said.
The man, a 28-year-old Pakistani man, and a 36-year-old French woman are facing charges connected with issuing false passports and attempting to sell land to residents of the United Arab Emirates under false pretences.
"I am an ambassador and I have been in jail for 70 days although I am a diplomat,'' he was quoted as telling the judges.
When asked to explain why his name was not on a list of foreign diplomats in the country, he said his state was trying to open an embassy in Dubai and had just recently started the registration process.
The trio was released on bail and their trial adjourned until an undisclosed date.
The "principality'' is on 75 sq km of land, 595km north of Perth, according to its website.
It claims to have seceded from Australia on April 21, 1970 but is not recognised by it or any international entity.
