Hopes British grandfather jailed in Dubai could be freed before Christmas

A British grandfather who has been jailed in Dubai for the past four years could be free for Christmas, his family hope.

Albert Douglas, a 63-year-old from London, has been detained in the emirate since 2021 after cheques relating to a business owned by his son, Wolfgang Douglas, bounced in 2019.

Despite forensic tests suggesting he hadn’t written them, he has remained held in several high security prisons in the United Arab Emirates’ largest city, where his family claim he has experienced torture behind bars and even been strangled by a fellow inmate.

A month after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined Mr Douglas’s detention was arbitrary and had no legal basis under international law, his son Wolfgang has expressed hope that his father may now be released before Christmas.

“It is just like winning the lottery,” Wolfgang told the Daily Mail after learning of the UN’s verdict. “The exact sentence from a lawyer that was working with me here in London was: ‘You’ve just put your hand in the grave and you’ve got your dad out.’ Because this is impossible.”

The UN Working Group ruled that Mr Douglas was a victim of “deprivation of liberty” in contravention of 10 different articles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

They requested the UAE government to take “the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr Douglas without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Wolfgang has claimed he was victim of financial entrapment and has strongly denied any purposeful wrongdoing after his father was ordered to pay a £2.5 million fine after his company racked up debts he could not pay. The family hope that Mr Douglas will now be freed in the coming days and weeks.

The 38-year-old continued: “I can’t believe we’ve got this far. If he comes through Terminal 4 at Heathrow, I’m going to cry.”

He has reportedly spent £1.4 million trying to get his father free. He told the Mail: “I’ve worked and given my whole life in the pursuit of clearing his name. I took a name badge the day [he got arrested] which said: ‘Advocate of Albert Douglas’. I would give the pennies I didn’t have to save my father.”

Detained in Dubai chief executive Radha Sterling told The Independent: “Albert and his family are hoping that they will finally be reunited after what can only be described as hell. Albert has been subjected to unspeakable horrors while detained in Dubai and we have been highly concerned for his physical and mental wellbeing throughout his detention.

“Albert’s plight has been supported by Baroness Whitaker and Lord Clement Jones, raised in Parliament and discussed at the highest levels of the British government and yet he remained in prison for years.

“I took the case to the United Nations to investigate Albert’s arbitrary detention and human rights abuses and we are now on the edge of our seats waiting to see Albert safely home. His release means the world to his family who are praying to see him soon.”

The Independent has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.

Mr Douglas’ potential release comes as a British student, 23-year-old Mia O’Brien, is set to be released from a Dubai prison a year after she was arrested when 50g of cocaine was allegedly found in a flat stormed by police during a party.