Albert Douglas, held in Bur Dubai prison, is being beaten by guards and forced to watch cellmates being tortured in an effort to make him confess to a crime he did not commit, son claims
A British millionaire says he is regularly beaten by Dubai prison guards and forced to drink toilet water after being locked up seven months ago “over a bounced cheque”.
According to Detained in Dubai, Albert Douglas, 60, was arrested over a bounced cheque that he didn’t write.
It related to alleged debts racked up by his son Wolfgang’s failed flooring business.
Albert was fined £2.5 million – even though he had no role in the company – and was jailed for three years, after losing his appeal, the Sun reports.
Even though forensic tests proved the cheque was not his, it’s claimed that the Brit has been hit with a string of other trumped-up charges
Since being locked up he has been interrogated and savagely beaten, in an effort to make him confess to a crime he didn’t commit, campaigners say.
These beatings left him with a dislocated shoulder which hasn’t been treated for five months.
According to Detained in Dubai, doctors were shocked that he had not received treatment earlier.
But despite being in agony, the 60-year-old is afraid to accept painkillers as it could mean he’s transferred to an even more brutal psychiatric facility.
The advocacy group’s CEO, Radha Stirling, said: “Albert has been in prison for most of the year and as a result, his own business has collapsed, causing new financial cases to be opened against him.
“This is how dangerous Dubai can be to investors.”
His family was fearful he would die in jail and hired smugglers to get him out of the UAE but the escape attempt was unsuccessful.
He was caught climbing a border fence trying to flee into Oman and was sentenced to an extra three years.
Albert’s family is urging the UK government to use diplomatic pressure to help free him, but Wolfgang, 34, claimed they had done “less than nothing”.
He said earlier this year: “While I was in the UK, due to a series of uncontrollable events, my company failed and in the Emirates that is considered to be a criminal offence.
"What they will do is that they will take family members and associates in lieu and throw them in prison.
“The jails over there are not like the jails here. Torture is Monday for them".
"He did not commit a crime to begin with, he lost faith in the law and that is why he tried to escape – he holds his hands up to that.
“He was brought to a prison where he was beaten so badly that afterwards, he would bleed from his ears.
"20-year-old boys in his cell were being hung upside down and beaten for sport.
"He is in an environment where a young man below his bunk had his privates burnt off with blowtorches to get confessions."
Albert himself said from prison in April: "I fear that I will not get out of here alive.
"I am innocent and being made to pay the penalty for the debts of my son. I would not wish this on my worst enemy."
Comments