A US citizen who spent nine months in jail in the UAE for posting a parody video on YouTube, was released and returned home to the US on Thursday.

Shezanne Cassim, 29, was sentenced to a year in prison in the UAE last month on cybercrime charges over a 20-minute "mockumentary" video that poked fun at young Emirati men who imitate US hip-hop culture.

Cassim had been detained since April and his family said in a statement that he had been released "according to a customary practice that equates nine months of imprisonment to a one-year sentence."

Cassim, who is from Minnesota, told a news conference after he arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday that he had broken no laws.

A spokeswoman for the US State Department welcomed Cassim's release.

"We've consistently raised this issue about his arrest and trial specifically with UAE officials," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a regular news briefing. "We have continuously pressed for a fair and expedient resolution as we were deeply concerned by the verdict."

Cassim, an aviation business consultant, was charged with violating UAE's cybercrimes law, which makes acts deemed damaging to the country's reputation or national security punishable by fines and jail time. Cassim was also fined 10,000 dirhams ($2,700). - Reuters