Qataris ask UK to investigate UAE officials for abuse

Three Qatari nationals have filed a request to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit to investigate 10 Emirati officials for alleged torture and illegal imprisonment.

Their lawyer has submitted the legal application through the UK’s powers of universal jurisdiction over serious crimes.

The three Qataris are accusing up to 10 senior Emirati officials – including a government minister and a senior security adviser – of authorising torture and illegal imprisonment.

Human rights lawyer Rodney Dixon who represents the men said during a statement outside Scotland Yard, “We have highlighted in our request that there is a history of systematic torture in the UAE”.

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In July a US citizen received $10 million compensation after accusing senior members of the ruling family in the UAE of detaining and torturing him.

The three Qataris were detained upon their arrival in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 and 2014. One was held for more than two years, and they were all eventually released in early 2015.

The three Qataris claim they were beaten, subjected to electric shocks, hung upside down, drugged, kept in solitary confinement and threatened that they would be killed. One of them was accused of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.