A Brit who spent 22 months locked up in a ‘desert hellhole’ jail in Dubai has described his terrifying ordeal – warning folks to by no means go there.
David Haigh, the ex-managing director of Leeds United, has claimed he was raped whereas on the ground in his cell and noticed a person tortured to loss of life by having his throat stamped on.
The abuse Haigh says he confronted included being punched, tasered, hit with a brush deal with and torched throughout his incarceration at Bur Dubai police station.
The then soccer boss was accused of channeling cash into his personal accounts by the membership’s Dubai-based house owners – a cost he continues to label trumped-up.
He stated his surprising expertise might have been repeated within the current high-profile case of Irish air hostess Tori Towey, who was threatened with jail after she was charged with consuming alcohol and making an attempt to take her personal life after having allegedly suffered home abuse.
Now Mr Haigh has spoken to MailOnline to disclose how his expertise in Dubai’s prisons left him affected by PTSD, nightmares and flashbacks.
David Haigh (pictured in 2016), the ex-managing director of Leeds United, claims he was raped whereas on the ground in his cell and noticed a person tortured to loss of life by having his throat stamped on
A British man beforehand claimed he noticed males torn aside by knife-wielding inmates, whereas others had been forcibly contaminated with HIV throughout his time within the hellish Dubai jail
Meals in Dubai prisons is usually low high quality (Pictured)
After spending 22 months locked up in Dubai, Mr Haigh has labelled it a ‘desert hellhole’ and warned folks to by no means go there
Mr Haigh has spoken to MailOnline to disclose how his expertise in Dubai’s prisons left him affected by PTSD, nightmares and flashbacks. Pictured: On the finish of 2014
He stated: ‘I went from operating a soccer membership to mendacity on the ground of a jail cell being raped.
‘After I heard them say ‘We kill Brits right here’ I simply thought it was them making an attempt to scare me.
‘I noticed somebody who was killed in entrance of me as a result of he was being tortured – they dragged him to 1 space and I might hear them beating him and so they introduced him again and he fell down subsequent to me and so they stood on his throat.’
When requested about why the police carried out the alleged torture strategies, Mr Haigh stated: ‘To get confessions. A few of them use it as a result of they’re evil folks and since they will, they take them out to the desert, put a bag over their head, put a gun to their head and so they do it for sadistic enjoyable.’
He was arrested in Might 2014 after flying to the UAE for a gathering with the membership’s former house owners Gulf Monetary Home (GFH) in Dubai.
Mr Haigh, who led the negotiations for GFH’s takeover of Leeds United in 2012 from businessman Ken Bates, believed the assembly was about establishing a non-public fairness funding home.
The abuse Mr Haigh stated he confronted included being punched, tasered, hit with a brush deal with and torched throughout his incarceration at Bur Dubai police station. Pictured previous to arrest
Mr Haigh, who led the negotiations for Gulf Monetary Home (GFH) in Dubai to takeover Leeds United in 2012 from businessman Ken Bates, was accused of fraud. Pictured: Leeds United rejoice 100 years of historical past at Elland Street in 2019
However as an alternative he was confronted by a neighborhood police officer who accused him of an irregularity with a cheque.
He was then taken to a police station the place he tried to repay the small amount of cash owed – however then discovered himself locked up on a false cost.
Haigh stated that the circumstances of his cell had been filthy with uncooked sewage leaking onto the ground.
He stated: ‘Unsanitary does not do it justice, there is no bathroom paper. The meals you get has no dietary worth – they would not give it to animals right here. After I was there we believed it was drugged with some chemical to subdue folks
‘The bathrooms are simply buckets outdoors full of soiled water with flies round which it’s important to scoop out along with your arms
‘There isn’t a bathroom to take a seat on, there are holes within the flooring, no cleansing fluids offered as a result of they can be utilized for poison
‘There are 5 – 6 occasions extra folks in it than there ought to have been.’
Mr Haigh, then chief govt officer of Leeds United, seems to be on throughout a Championship match between Yeovil City and Leeds United at Huish Park on February 8, 2014
However Mr Haigh will not be the one Western vacationer or ex-pat who has been locked up alongside harmful criminals in unsanitary, cramped cells.
In lots of circumstances it has been claimed that prisoners in Dubai will not be charged however are as an alternative compelled to admit to a criminal offense whereas in custody.
Situations within the jails had been introduced sharply into focus after it emerged that Irish air hostess Tori Towey might have confronted the within of a jail cell this week.
Journey restrictions on her have since been lifted permitting her to return house following frantic diplomatic efforts.
Mr Haigh has now revealed about how Ms Towey escaped ‘horrors that I do not assume anybody studying this may perceive’.
He stated: ‘It is degrading for the boys however much more so for the ladies – they’re stored separate from the boys however they’re in the identical jail, simply within the subsequent constructing
‘I attempted to take my very own life once I was there, in the event you push that you’re suicidal you’ll find yourself in a really dangerous psychological establishment, even worse than the jail, you might be handled as in case you are a legal
Tori Towey was left stranded in Dubai after being confronted with an tried suicide cost – however has now seen journey restrictions on her lifted
Mr Haigh has now revealed about how Ms Towey escaped ‘horrors that I do not assume anybody studying this may perceive’. Pictured: A policeman enters Dubai’s Al-Awir central jail within the United Arab Emirates
‘The method that she must undergo, even when she was mentally sturdy, is horrendous.’
Mr Haigh additionally spoke about how the authorized system in Dubai appears to be stacked within the man’s favour, with cops selecting to consider them over girls.
He advised the Solar Ms Towey was ‘fortunate’ to be launched as shortly as she was.
‘I might say 90 per cent of individuals in Dubai are unknowingly breaking the legislation and when there’s a difficulty the legislation comes at you.
‘Every day that goes by there are Brits and different nationalities locked up in Dubai that should not be there however cannot get out as a result of the justice system is corrupt.
‘I used to be imprisoned 10 years in the past and I consider I might be useless or nonetheless in there now if I did not run a soccer membership and had a excessive profile.’
Mr Haigh advised MailOnline his recommendation to these trying to journey to Dubai can be to ‘simply do not go’.
He stated: ‘There are millions of different Brits and westerners in these jails now, so many and so many different nationalities
‘Individuals have to get up to what Dubai is actually like, it is a hellhole.
‘I lived there for 10 years in an absolute bubble, you get drawn in and begin believing the lies.
‘I began to see the explanation that I can afford the cleaner 4 occasions every week was as a result of she was handled like a slave, the human price of the great life that I’ve.
A physician reveals a hallway on the medical centre of Al-Awir jail in the course of the Covid pandemic
‘The idiot’s paradise that they reside in is something apart from a paradise.’
After he bought again from Dubai in March 2016, he spent seven months in hospital making an attempt to recuperate from the horrors of jail.
In his first interview the month after he was launched, Mr Haigh stated: ‘They take me to a room on the facet. They maintain me ready for an hour, then one other hour, after which a girl got here in and stated: ‘Did you’re taking 23 million?’.
‘I stated ‘what do you imply?’ She stated: ‘GFH. 23 million. The place is it?’.
‘I had gone from operating a soccer membership, to having abdomen surgical procedure, to getting on a aircraft, to touchdown, to sitting in a police station, being whacked within the face by some dodgy police man carrying a inexperienced uniform, shouting at me in Arabic ‘the place is the cash?”
Mr Haigh was advised he wasn’t getting bail and was led down a hall right into a cramped detention centre with none additional clarification of the fees towards him.
‘I’ll always remember, the scent bought so dangerous as you walked in the direction of the door the place they had been going to place you in. It was horrific, a combination of every part you do not wish to scent in your life.
They opened this iron door and pushed me in, and slammed it shut. There have been no papers, or ‘that is what you may have been accused of’ – that was it.’
Throughout his time in a scorching, soiled jail cell the place sewage was leaking in every single place Haigh stated he was denied entry to his cash and disadvantaged of medication he wanted after his abdomen operation.
He claims he was solely allowed to talk to his legal professionals for 2 minutes every week and was subjected to and witnessed torture throughout his time behind bars.
He stated: ‘They got here and bought me in the midst of the evening, they took me outdoors to the automobile park, then moved me right into a room, after which I used to be fairly critically bodily abused, tasered, whacked within the face, made to face in unusual positions, and advised repeatedly ‘the place is the cash?’.
‘I used to be advised if I confessed I might go house. I stated I would not confess, I did not do it, you’ll be able to stick with it torturing me.
‘You might be surrounded by this depravity. I’ll always remember, I used to be sitting there and the police are torturing a man behind me.
‘I do not know what he had finished, however they’d thrown him on the ground, tasering him, kicking him within the head, three or 4 of them, getting a catapult, placing it on his testicles.
‘The psychological anguish that places you thru, that you’re below a relentless menace of abuse, that continued throughout.
‘A month earlier than I left the place I used to be just lately, I used to be standing within the hall ready to get some painkillers and a guard got here and hit me over the top with a brush deal with for no obvious purpose.’
In 2015 he was discovered responsible of ‘breach of belief’ by defrauding GFH of £3m by falsifying invoices and diverting cash into accounts managed by him.
Since returning to Britain, Mr Haigh has been spending time along with his household in west Cornwall however is within the strategy of taking authorized motion over his remedy.
He misplaced round 40kgs in weight throughout his incarceration and stated the influence on his well being has been ‘form of dangerous’.
He added: ‘The abuse I suffered, I used to be punched round, I used to be hit, I used to be tasered. Individuals tried to sexually abuse me.
‘I’ve an issue with my eyes, you might be continuously stored at midnight, the lights are very not often on, so you’ll be able to’t see correctly, it damages your eyes. Simply the unbelievable stress you undergo, you are attempting to defend your self and inform the world.’
In a press release about David’s case, the International and Commonwealth Workplace advised The Guardian in 2016: ‘Our embassy employees had been in virtually every day contact with Mr Haigh all through his detention, and this included common checks on his welfare.
‘We additionally usually raised his case with UAE authorities, letting them know we had been following it intently.
‘We take Mr Haigh’s allegations of mistreatment extraordinarily critically and are setting out our issues to the UAE authorities. We solely elevate allegations of mistreatment when we’ve got the person’s consent to take action.’
