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Wolverhampton man launches legal claim after being held in UAE for wearing Qatar football shirt

A football fan from Wolverhampton has launched a legal challenge against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after claiming he was detained and tortured for wearing a Qatar football shirt on holiday.

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Ali Issa Ahmad from Wolverhampton was in the UAE to see Qatar play in the Asian Cup.

Security guard Ali Issa Ahmad, 26, says he was arrested, interrogated and detained in Sharjah after watching an Asian Cup football match in January.

He says that during his detention he was beaten, electrocuted, cut and burned and questioned repeatedly about why he was wearing a Qatari football shirt in the UAE.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off in May 2017, and it is an offence that can lead to imprisonment to promote Qatar in UAE.

Mr Ahmad is bringing a human rights claim against the UAE government for the physical harm he suffered.

His lawyers have urged the Foreign Office to launch an investigation into what happened and have written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt calling for action.

The UAE has denied Mr Ahmad's claims and says his injuries were self-inflicted to gain publicity.

Mr Ahmad told The Guardian: “I must challenge their lies. I have the truth, I have the scars. I am suffering a lot from what they did to me. They cannot be allowed to keep doing this to people.”

He added that he was so traumatised by his ordeal in UAE that he has not been able to sleep properly since his return to the UK and keeps obsessively checking and rechecking that the door to his flat is locked.

His lawyer Rodney Dixon QC of Temple Garden Chambers, said: “The torture and abuse that Ali suffered was completely unjustified and gratuitous. It is shocking that a football fan can be treated in this way in UAE just for supporting a team at an international tournament.”

An Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said they could not comment on private correspondence to the Foreign Secretary but would be responding to the letter.