I spent £1.6 million freeing my innocent British father from prison in Dubai – now I fear he will die in prison

THE family of a British grandfather held in a hellish prison in Dubai fear he will never be released despite being cleared of any wrongdoing.

Albert Douglas, 61, has been held in custody since 2021 over a debt – and his son Wolfgang has spent more than £1.4million in a vain attempt to clear his name.

4

4

4

Londoner Albert once lived a life of extraordinary wealth Dubai's Palm Islands, the driving a Rolls Royce with “tens of tens of millions” in the bank.

But in 2021 he was arrested by the UAE and ordered to pay a £2.5 million fine after his son's company, a floor covering company – with which he has no links – racked up debts it could not repay.

The expat tycoon was arrested over a bounced check that he had not written, according to Detained in Dubai.

Although forensic tests showed the check was not his, Albert was hit with a series of other trumped-up charges, it is claimed.

Wolfgang says his father's case has now become 'personal', with Albert becoming the equivalent of a bargaining chip.

And he believes the cause is of “equal status.” Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – an Iranian-British dual citizen was held in Iran from 2016 to 2022 as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Tehran.

Wolfgang also compared the case to British student Matthew Hedges – who was arrested in Dubai on suspicion of spying on behalf of the British government.

He was sentenced to life in prison jail in 2018 on espionage charges before being pardoned.

But Hedges' lawyer later filed a complaint against the British Foreign Office, claiming it had failed in its duty of care to negotiate Hedges' release.

Wolfgang told The Sun: “The Foreign Office does not want another Nazanin – another failed dictatorship hostage situation.

“And the UAE's greatest fear is another Matthew Hedges – another person emerging from a prison in Dubai and explaining the methods and mechanisms of torture.

“It's much easier [for them] to keep him in prison for life.

'The cost of prison is far less damaging than the harm it causes when there is testimony of actual torture of British citizens.

“They would rather he spend another 25 years in prison. He is in prison because a sheikh kept him there.

“He continues to be arbitrarily imprisoned based on conflict law.”

Wolfgang has repeatedly urged the government to apply diplomatic pressure to help free Albert from hell.

He said: “The UAE wants to cover up the crimes it has committed and violated international laws.

“This surpasses every problem they've accused him of having [Albert] by.

“The advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to hire a lawyer, but unfortunately there are no lawyers who can help you with these laws, which fall outside any judicial system. This has become very personal.

“You're not going to get much higher than where this case is being heard. They have already had to send officials to the case United Nations to answer this.”

Wolfgang told The Sun how UAE authorities added a minimum of “five additional years” to Albert's prison sentence in October as they continue to pile on charges with new evidence – while plundering the company's accounts.

Albert has been pardoned and even proven to have been tortured in front of a UAE human rights hearing – but they 'escaped' from being held accountable.

Wolfgang says the sheikh's office in Dubai has personally imposed a travel ban on him, but he has also been served with a deportation notice.

The rulings have left Albert entangled in a conflict of conflicting laws, making him “the definition” of arbitrary indefinite detention.

In 2021, his desperate family feared he would die in prison and reportedly hired smugglers to get him out of the UAE.

But he was caught climbing a fence on the border with Oman and sentenced to an additional three years.

Regarding prison conditions, Wolfgang said: “Months and months without seeing sunlight.

“He had a heart attack earlier this year. Start of Dementia or Alzheimer's.

“In the UAE the medicine is half an aspirin.

“They drug you out of your mind to keep you from talking to your family.”

Albert's family has filed a case against the UAE with the UN Human Rights Council, but it may not be heard for years.

Although Wolfgang has spent more than £1million fighting his father's case, he also believes he has managed to block £750million of investment in the UAE.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told The Sun: “We continue to provide assistance to Mr Douglas and have consistently raised his case with the UAE government, including most recently by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon during his visit to the UAE earlier this month.”

4