+ A
A -
A Qatari citizen has recalled the horrors of imprisonment on false charges and torture at the hands of the United Arab Emirates for the first time, in an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye.
Speaking from his home in Doha, Mahmoud al Jaidah described a two-year-ordeal in which he became a Kafkaesque pawn in the Gulf states' regional power struggle, suffering abuse, isolation and mental anguish at the hands of the Dubai authorities.
Jaidah, a doctor at Qatar Petroleum, was arrested in Dubai in February 2013, while returning from Thailand to visit his brother, who had suffered a stroke. He received news that his wife needed an operation in Bahrain and so returned to the Gulf to see her, via Dubai airport.
While at the airport, he went to a mosque to perform the Maghrib (evening) prayers. While returning to the airport, he was stopped by a security guard at immigration control.
He said 'We will kill you, nobody will know about you. We have here a grave, we will kill you, nobody will know'
After being searched and questioned, Jaidah was asked to come to the police station to put his signature to a document confirming the authorities had interviewed him."I said 'No I will not go, I need my embassy to talk to them and I need my lawyer.'
"He said 'OK, you are right, just come to the police station, we will allow you to talk to your embassy from there.'"
Jaidah was taken to a car where to his horrified surprise found that hands were bound and he was blindfolded. He was taken to a building in an unknown location, where he was forced to change from his traditional thawb into pyjamas.
After being led down a corridor, again blindfolded, he was subjected to the first of what were to be many interrogations, all largely focusing on the Qatari government and its relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian group Hamas.
"He [the interrogator] started asking me 'Why do Qatar interfere in everything?' I said, 'I don't know, I cannot answer this. Ask the Qatari government.'"
The guards asked him whether he had brought any money to the UAE, accusing him of having brought 100,000 dirhams ($27,000)."I said 'I never brought any money.' Then they started hitting me with a stick."
The guards subjected Jaidah to repeated beatings that left him with multiple bruises on his back, neck and legs. For a further three days he was kept in a small cell and repeatedly questioned with no sleep.
At one point, Jaidah claims, he was given drugged water, which caused him to begin"laughing without any reason" and become highly talkative.
He said the guards threatened to electrocute him, pull out his fingernails and bury him up to his neck in the sand."The guard told me 'Don't worry, even up to killing you, we have the authority.'"
