A British man has been locked in a Dubai prison for 16 years – why?

Millions of people will be celebrating Eid Al Etihad today, the National Day of the United Arab Emirates that celebrates the formation of the country.  
 
But sitting alone in Al Awir Jail on the outskirts of Dubai, one man will not be celebrating.  

Although he speaks to them daily, British national Ryan Cornelius hasn’t been able to hug his family in four years – and he hasn’t walked as a free man in 16. 

The dad-of-three, 70, was arrested in 2008 during a layover at Dubai Airport, and convicted of fraud in a case which has been deemed ‘arbitrary’ by the United Nations.

He served his initial 10 year sentence – but courts in the UAE extended it by 20 years in 2018, meaning he won’t be eligible for release until 2038.

They won’t free Ryan until he pays back the £372million loan from the Dubai Islamic State Bank, which he is accused of breaking the terms of. 

The UK Consulate has visited Ryan constantly during his ordeal, but his family has expressed concerns about the UK government’s hesitation to intervene due to close economic ties with the UAE.

‘The government has no plan to do anything effective other than to make repeated limp expressions of concern,’ brother-in-law Chris Paget, 72, told Metro.

Chris claimed that when Foreign Secretary David Lammy made one of his early visits to the UAE, he ‘didn’t even raise Ryan’s case’.

‘They don’t really care about this. This is not what you do when you’re the minister of a government. You should be prepared to show toughness,’ he said.

What is Ryan accused of – and is his detention illegal?

Ryan is accused of breaking the terms of a loan from the Dubai Islamic Bank, an accusation which was initially dismissed from courts in the UAE for lack of evidence.

After a retrial, Ryan was charged with theft from a public body and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The court ordered him to repay the balance he owed from the loan, in addition to a £396,000,000 fine. His assets, including his home in London, were all seized in the process – meaning he’s is unable to pay it back.

After serving the first portion of his sentence, Ryan was issued with a 20-year sentence extension in May 2018, meaning that he will not be eligible for release until May 2038, when he will be 84.

His sentence was extended due to a new policy which states unless the prisoner can settle the debt, they must serve another 20 years.

A UN working group discovered in 2022 that his detention is ‘arbitrary’. He is one of many Brits who are being held arbitrarily abroad.

Tory MP Alicia Kearns, shadow minister for foreign affairs, said in October there is ‘now an industrialisation of taking British citizens as hostages for leverage in state-to-state relations’.

The UAE defended Ryan’s detention in a statement to Metro, writing: ‘Ryan Cornelius illegally obtained a loan of £372 million, by bribing staff members at Dubai Islamic Bank.

‘Following a fair trial in which all due processes were followed, Mr Cornelius was sentenced to ten years in prison, which was later lawfully extended as he had failed to repay the creditor (Dubai Islamic Bank) during this time – which is in line with UAE law. The whereabouts of the funds Mr Cornelius obtained are unknown.’

What have Ryan’s family said?

Ryan’s family were finally able to speak to Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East, months after Labour entered power.

Speaking with Metro, Ryan’s wife Heather said: ‘I came away from our talk with Hamish (Falconer) absolutely devastated. He didn’t have a plan or a grip on the severity of the situation.

‘I just thought, we’re back to rock bottom. When I spoke with Lord Cameron, I had never felt so much hope before, and that was after 16 years. Labour or Conservative, this is really a deeply distressing human story and they’ve got to do something.’

Heather is able to speak with her husband once a day, but says he isn’t as ‘positive’ as he used to be.

‘Our focus has always been our children. We’ve always tried to be hopeful and positive and say that this is going to come to an end,’ she said.

‘But I’ve been promising my children for 16 years that their dad will be home next Christmas, and it hasn’t happened. We’ve lost everything.’

Ryan’s eldest son told Metro growing up without his father was ‘devastating’.

‘We’re in quite a strange situation where he’s not gone, but he’s no longer part of my life,’ he said.

‘My dad was sentenced for one thing, and he was served a sentence and then the UAE created a new law and applied it in retrospect, essentially two sentences for one thing.

‘That’s not done anywhere in the world and it’s completely illegal, infuriating and fabricated,’ he said.

‘Whatever their justification is, they’ve created it themselves to create a narrative and they do what they want because they have the power and we’re just suffering.’

What has the UK done?

For years, the UK Foreign Office’s stance on hostage taking has long been not to ‘negotiate with terrorists’ or pay ransoms, meaning the prospect of the government paying Ryan’s ‘debt’ is out of the question.

The government’s history of dealing with their citizens being wrongly imprisoned abroad is to provide consular support, but ultimately not ruffle the feathers of countries which has jailed UK citizens.

A FCDO Spokesperson told Metro: ‘We are supporting Ryan Cornelius and are in contact with his family and the UAE authorities.

‘The Minister for the Middle East met with Mr Cornelius’ family to discuss their concerns on 23 October.’

Unlike other countries, the UK does not have a special envoy or office for hostage affairs, or wrongly imprisoned citizens abroad.

Ryan’s case was raised in parliament recently by Labour MP Tim Roca, who serves as vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs.

He pointed out: ‘Our Atlantic allies, the United States and Canada, have learned those lessons, and created official roles to co-ordinate the response to state hostage taking and arbitrary detention in order to get their people home, which is, of course, a priority for all of us.’

Why is the UK’s relationship with the UAE so important?

The UK and the UAE have a long history of friendship and trade. It’s the UK’s third largest trading partner outside of Europe, behind the United States and China.

Thousands of British nationals live and work in the UAE, and in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2024, the UK had a trade surplus of £4.3 billion with the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the long friendship between the two countries, Mr Roca cited worries that the prolonged detention of Ryan would ‘start sending the wrong message’.

He said: ‘I am increasingly worried that the continued arbitrary detention of Ryan Cornelius will start sending the wrong message to tourists, expats and businesses, potentially threatening our valued and historic relationship.’

Bill Browder, who works with families of wrongly imprisoned people, told Metro: ‘The only thing Ryan did wrong was go into business in Dubai.

‘He’s a British citizen who’s been falsely and wrongly detained. And it should be at the top of the British foreign policy agenda with the UAE. The more outrageous the legal abuses, the more it necessitates the need for sanctions.’

Ryan’s brother-in-law, Chris, agrees: ‘A bank has been given the power to keep somebody in prison until they die. This is beyond sanctionable.

‘The UK needs an effective deterrent to protect citizens doing business in increasingly autocratic regimes like this.’

Mr Cornelius is not the only Brit being held arbitrarily. Prominent international scholar Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was arrested on July 23, 2023 in Azerbaijan, and remains under house arrest for ‘possessing extremist material’.

Dr Ibadoghlu was outspoken in his criticism of Azerbaijan’s increasingly authoritarian government before his arrest, something which human rights groups have cited as a reason for his harsh treatment.

Metro also delved into some of the thousands of women around the world who have been wrongfully detained for their activism by governments.

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