Guards kick my head like a football & I have to drink toilet water
A BRIT grandad trapped in a Dubai jail has told of the horror conditions as he claimed guards kick his head "like a football" and he has to drink toilet water to survive.
Albert Douglas described conditions in the maximum security jail as “medieval” and "demonic" as he continues to fight his case.
The 61-year-old was arrested and ordered to pay a £2.5 million fine by the UAE after his son’s company, a flooring firm, which he has no association with, amassed debts it couldn't repay.
Londoner Albert once lived a life of extraordinary wealth on Dubai's Palm Islands, driving a Rolls Royce with "tens of tens of millions" in the bank.
But he has risked the wrath of the authorities in the UAE to speak out about the “demonic” beatings he has suffered in jail.
He said was beaten so badly in notorious Al Ain Prison he wound up in hospital with a broken left shoulder, broken hands with exposed bones and serious head injuries.
The multi-millionaire described his head as "being a football for some of the guards" which has led to blackouts and in turn resulted in him going "deaf" following a fall.
Guards he claimed, have also threatened to "kill me".
His bones repaired themselves crooked meaning they had to be re-broken so he could recover properly and was left without painkillers for six months.
Albert said his ordeal deepened and was "denied food and water" which meant he "had to drink toilet water to survive".
"The UAE say torture doesn't take place but I've seen hundreds of prisoners with wounds to prove it,” said Albert.
He also believes his experience has led to early onset dementia.
Albert is now in the city's Al Awir Central Prison but is denied visits due to Covid.
He fears a "tsunami of cases" being brought against him will lead to endless prison sentences.
Under Dubai law anyone linked to a company that owes money can be found liable for their debt - family members often hunted down for payments.
He was sentenced to two years, due to end on May 7, but he admitted: "I will just get more years and more years - they will just keep adding them.
"Every case means jail, jail, jail - it’s like a dominos".
His son Wolfgang Douglas, 35 and lives in London said: "If he doesn't speak out who will for the people getting tasered, beaten and having their private parts burnt off?
"People see Dubai as a glamourous place full of money, but it's not modern to have torture rooms. It is medieval.
"This is the real Dubai."
Albert was charged while in the UK - his family begged him not to go back to Dubai, but he did because he believed he was innocent and that this would be proven in a Dubai court of law.
He made his money with a successful flooring company that profited during the Middle Eastern country’s property boom.
Albert had invested in Dubai since the 1980's and lived there over 20 years before he was caged.
Radha Stirling from Detained In Dubai, an organisation who lobby for Brits banged up in the Gulf Kingdom says prison guards who think they are "above the law" are responsible for his barbaric treatment.
He was held in Al Ain prison in Abu Dhabi before being transferred to Bur Dubai jail - the prison where Brit Lee Bradley Brown, from East London, died in 2011 after being beaten.
Detained in Dubai: http://www.detainedindubai.org
Detained in Doha: https://www.detainedindoha.org
Radha Stirling: http://www.radhastirling.com
CLAN - Crypto Legal Advocacy Network - https://www.bitclan.org/
Due Process International: http://www.dueprocess.international
IPEX - Interpol & Extradition Reform & Defence Experts - https://www.ipexreform.com/
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