Ms Divya from Mohammad Al Najjar Advocates says, "We have visited Billy at Al Barsha Police station before his transfer to Al Aweer and he is in high spirits, hopeful for a successful appeal. Lawyer Mohammad Al Najjar will be appearing in Abu Dhabi to vigorously fight for Billy Hood's justice”.

Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and Due Process International has reviewed the legal defence, “It is very clear from the evidence that the first court never even heard Billy’s defence at the first hearing. They convicted him based solely on the prosecutorial evidence. This is quite standard in Dubai but can cause enormous and undue stress on the victim, not to mention the escalating legal bills.

“The prosecution evidence that Billy was ‘selling drugs’ relies solely on Billy having £4,000 cash in his apartment and they are fully aware this was money paid by his employer for his coaching job. It is appalling that the police charged him with selling drugs and even more appalling that the Judge accepted it.