Former Leeds United chief shares experience of being tortured in Dubai prison

VaselineJuly 12, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Former Leeds United chief shares experience of being tortured in Dubai prison

Former Leeds United chief David Haigh has shared his difficult experience of being tortured in a Dubai Prison for 22 months.

The Brit was arrested in May 2014 after flying to the UAE for a meeting with the club’s former owners Gulf Financial House (GFH) in Dubai.

He believed that the meeting was about setting up a private equity investment house but was instead immediately arrested and taken to the police station.

Haigh said that he was abused in prison resulting in PTSD that has lasted to this day. He also said that he saw a man tortured to death by having his throat stamped on.

David Haigh spent 22 months in a Dubai prison

GB News

Speaking to GB News, Haigh said: “It is something that never leaves you. I spent a lot of time in hospital recovering from that (experience.) When someone abuses you, when someone punches you and does terrible things to you, you can kind of tolerate that.

“What I found, and still find, really difficult is to see the police hurting and torturing other people. There was one other person that was lying next to me and they beat him up and stood on his throat. It sounded like he wasn’ t breathing and even now ten years later I wonder what happened to him.”

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He explained: “I think that it never leaves you. That gentleman that I saw lying next to me, never goes away. I have had a lot of treatment but I don’t think that you ever recover when you have seen such horrors. The way that I treat myself now is by helping other people.”

The now human rights lawyer also revealed that the horrific experience caused him to shake up his career, and he changed from an “evil corporate lawyer” into someone who “commits to helping people” who is in a similar situation to his own ten years ago .

The lawyer explained that his story has only come “back into the light” because Irish air hostess Tori Towey could have faced the inside of a prison cell this week.

He warned holidaymakers that Dubai is not a destination that you should visit for a “party holiday,” as the laws are very different.

David Haigh said that Dubai should not be “marketed as a glamorous party capital”

GB News

He explained: “As many of your viewers will know I worked for the daughter of the ruler of Dubai Princess Latifa and helped her to get her freedom. The problem that you have got is that it really is marketed as a glamorous party capital and it has very strict laws similar to Saudi and you wouldn’t go there for a holiday.

“If you go into a hotel room, with your girlfriend or your boyfriend and you are not married you are breaking the law. How many of these influencers that we see on Instagram and footballers do that?

“It is a very dangerous place but no one sees the danger. That is until it happens to them.”

David Haigh said he will “never recover” from the experience

GB News

In a statement about David’s case, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office told The Guardian in 2016: “Our embassy staff were in almost daily contact with Haigh throughout his detention, and this included regular checks on his welfare.

“We also regularly raised his case with UAE authorities, letting them know we were following him closely.

“We take Haigh’s allegations of mistreatment extremely seriously and are setting out our concerns to the UAE authorities. We only raise allegations of mistreatment when we have the individual’s consent to do so.”

VaselineJuly 12, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Vaseline

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