Crossword Genius

Government official imprisoning millions with germs in Arab state (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ombudsman

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'government official' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'imprisoning millions with germs in arab state' is the wordplay.
'imprisoning' indicates putting letters inside.
'millions' becomes 'm' (abbreviation).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'germs in' becomes 'buds' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'arab state' becomes 'Oman' (Oman is a Middle Eastern country).
'm'+'buds'='mbuds'
'mbuds' put into 'oman' is 'OMBUDSMAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ombudsman that I've seen before include "Commisioner" , "Public official" , "Commissioner investigating complaints by the public" , "Official pursuing complaints against government departments" , "Official investigating complaints of maladministration" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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