From: Clive Stafford Smith – Reprieve <matthew.leidecker@reprieve.org.uk>
Date: July 27, 2015 9:05:33 AM EDT
To: Susan Chandler
Subject: Will you sign?
Reply-To: Beth.Rettig@reprieve.org.uk
Dear Susan,
British student Ahmad Zeidan was tortured into signing a false confession, and then sentenced to nine years in prison in the UAE. He desperately needs our help.
In December 2013, Ahmad and six other young men were arrested outside a mall in Sharjah, UAE. Accused of possessing and trading in narcotics, Ahmad was hooded and kept in solitary confinement for two days, stripped naked, threatened with rape, and viciously beaten. He was also denied all contact with his family and the British embassy for eight days.
Officers tortured Ahmad for a week. They then forced him to sign a legal statement in Arabic, a language he cannot read. When the document was later translated into English by his legal team, Ahmad said that it was a completely false account of the events.
Ahmad narrowly avoided a death sentence, but was sentenced to 9 years in prison for allegedly possessing just 0.04 grams of cocaine.
To this day, Ahmad remains in prison in the UAE, while all his co-defendants have been either pardoned or acquitted.
However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has refused to support his request for inclusion in an amnesty. The next amnesty is scheduled for 22 September, to mark Eid. It is vital that David Cameron acts now, and asks the UAE government to release Ahmad safely back to his family in the UK. Please sign our petition now, asking David Cameron to take immediate action. [emphasis added]
Click here to sign our petition
With your help, we can secure justice for Ahmad, and reunite him with his family in Berkshire.
Thank you for all you do.
Clive Stafford Smith
Founder & Director
Wobbly Warrior's Blog 