British football fan stabbed and beaten in UAE jail

British football fan stabbed and beaten in UAE jail

The British football fan Ali Issa Ahmad, who was recently released from jail in the UAE, told the Guardian that he was stabbed, beaten and deprived of sleep, food and water during his detention.

Ahmed, 26, was arrested in the UAE in January for wearing a Qatar national football team shirt to an Asian Cup match.

Upon his arrival to London last Thursday, Ahmed told the Guardian that he thought he would die in detention.

The Sudanese-British citizen said he was stabbed and deprived of sleep, food and water for several days while being held in a security building.

According to the Guardian, Ahmed had a series of knife wounds to his arm, a stab wound to his side and further injuries to his chest. He appeared dazed, exhausted and in a state of shock.

"I thought 100 percent that I was going to die in the UAE," the 26-year-old told the British newspaper. "I thought I would commit suicide rather than letting them kill me."

“Before I got on the plane back to the UK a UAE official at the airport said to me: ‘We are a very good country.’ I don’t know how I can get justice for what happened to me but if I can I will do it.”

Commenting on Ahmed's statement, the UAE Embassy in London rejected that he had been detained for wearing a Qatar football shirt, claiming that "his injuries were inconsistent with his account of the event and appeared to be self-inflicted". 

Rights groups have repeatedly accused the UAE of using torture in detention and during interrogations. Last year the United Nations issued a report implicating the UAE in practices of systematic torture against detainees in secret prisons in Yemen.

 

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