Ali Issa Ahmad is, according to The Guardian, a Arsenalfan from Southampton, who travelled to the United arab Emirates on vacation in January.
because of the blockade, the emirate along with several other countries against Qatar then 18 months back, it is illegal to show sympathy for Qatar, and it can be punished with imprisonment.
unaware if the have had a Qatartröja on when he went on Qatar’s match against Iraq on January 22, and then arrested by the police.
the Newspaper has spoken with Ahmad’s friend Amer Lokie, that he called when he got the permission to make a phone call.
” this is just unbelievable. He just went to see a football game while he was on vacation in the United arab Emirates and says that he was arrested and was beaten after having been accused of having a football shirt which promoted the Qatar. When he did manage to call me sat officials next to him so he could not say so much. He was given not so long time to talk with me and I’m not really sure what happened, ” says Amer Lokie to The Guardian.
the state department says that they help a britt arrested in the country, and that they are in contact with the local authorities. Even the BBC has information that the man is Ali Issa Ahmad.
Amer Lokie says that his friend said to him that he kept with the accusation that he made false statements on the security personnel.
” It seems that he was released after having been detained, been beaten by the security guards in the car and accused of supporting Qatar. He went to a police station to report the assault and was accused of lying about the incident, ” he says.
the United arab emirates embassy told The Guardian that the embassy will ”investigate allegations that a british national has been detained. The united arab Emirates is a nation built on the entire territory and respect for individuals. We take all allegations of human rights violations extremely seriously – if it involves one of our citizens or any of the 1.5 million britons who visit the us each year”.
Qatar won the Asian championships, after going undefeated through the tournament in the United arab Emirates. Qatari fans did not travel to the country to support their team, and they get people in the stands who openly cheered on the team during the matches came from other countries.
In november, released the british researcher Matthew Hedges, after having been seven months in the emiratiskt prison, sentenced to life imprisonment for espionage.
Then wins the Qatar national football team the pr war in the Gulfkrisen