A BRITISH grandad and veteran affected by most cancers has been left homeless and ravenous in Dubai after being arrested for against the law he’d been acquitted of a decade earlier.
John Murphy, who served within the British navy earlier than constructing a life within the UAE, was arrested a decade earlier over allegations of being offensive to resort safety.
The 59-year-old’s attorneys stated he ought to have walked free however he was jailed awaiting trial.
Within the interim interval, John’s landlord sued him for hire arrears that piled up throughout his detention.
His belongings have been seized, a journey ban imposed, and his passport withheld.
The journey ban imposed on him has additionally by no means been lifted.
For practically 10 years he has been trapped in Dubai, unable to work and unable to go away, placing John in an ‘inescapable authorized limbo’.
John’s attorneys now say he has been ‘actually ravenous’.
The grandfather has been compelled to sleep on public transport and wash in procuring centre bathrooms, in line with his authorized contacts.
“I have never eaten in 4 days,” Murphy stated in a message despatched from Dubai.
“I have been on the streets for 3 weeks.
“I attempt to experience the metro all day to relaxation, however safety chase me away.
“I wash in mall bathrooms, I have been in the identical garments for weeks, and my health is failing.
“I would like pressing most cancers remedy and dental care, however I’ve nowhere to show.”
Regardless of homelessness being unlawful within the UAE, when John tried to give up to the police, they refused to arrest him.
He has been surviving on public transport, caught between a rock and a tough place – unable to go away, unable to work, unable to resolve his money owed.
Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai stated John’s state of affairs was “outrageous”.
“John was discovered harmless, but ten years later he’s ravenous on the streets, denied most cancers remedy, meals, or shelter,” she stated.
“That is the direct results of a system that criminalises debt and traps folks in a cycle of poverty and despair.
“They will not let him depart, they usually will not even arrest him. He’s being left to die in plain sight.”
A buddy of John’s has launched a GoFundMe web page and appealed on to each the British and Irish embassies for assist.
Thus far, neither has secured his launch.
“The Trump administration efficiently repatriated a variety of Americans from the UAE,” Stirling added.
“It’s disappointing that Britain and Ireland haven’t stepped in to avoid wasting John Murphy.
“He’s a veteran, a grandfather, and he has already suffered sufficient.
“The Irish and British governments should act now.”
John’s quagmire comes after British pupil Mia O’Brien was detained within the metropolis after being busted with 50g of cocaine.
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Mia was sentenced to spend 25 years in a UAE jail after she was discovered with the medicine that had a road worth of £2500.
Her household this week issued a plea for assist saying she had “by no means accomplished a nasty factor in her life” and had made a “very silly mistake”.
However now her heartbroken mum Danielle McKenna, 46, has revealed new particulars about her prolonged jail time period.
She revealed that Mia, 23, was caught with 50 grams of the Class A drug within the Center East final October.
The massive quantity of cocaine was discovered inside Mia’s condominium in “one large chunk”.
The Liverpool College regulation pupil was arrested alongside two different folks – her buddy and the buddy’s boyfriend.
All three have been charged with drug dealing.
Mia was convicted by a choose after a at some point listening to on July 25.
She was additionally fined a staggering £100,000 by the court earlier than being despatched to the hellish Dubai Central Prison, also called Al-Awir.
The infamous lock-up has been dubbed the prosperous metropolis’s model of notorious jail Alcatraz.
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“Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wished to be a lawyer or solicitor, ” Danielle advised the Daily Mail.
“I converse to her however she will’t say an excessive amount of on the cellphone.
“She’s simply made a silly mistake after going over to see a buddy and her boyfriend in Dubai.”
The mother-of-five stated Mia pleaded not responsible to intent to produce the medicine.
However the choose swiftly ended the trial and handed her a life sentence of which she has to serve 25 years.
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