1,200 sign petition demanding release of Wanstead and Ilford men held in Dubai after ‘police torture’

Grant Cameron, Karl Williams, and Suneet Jeerh are being held in Dubai on drugs charges.

Lizzie Dearden, Reporter Tuesday, March 5, 2013
12:26 PM

A petition demanding the release of three men from Wanstead and Ilford held in Dubai on drugs charges after allegedly being tortured by police has more than 1,200 signatures.

The online petition was set up last month to put pressure on the United Arab Emirates government to free Grant Cameron, of Harpenden Road, Karl Williams, of Herongate Road, and Suneet Jeerh, of The Drive.

They have been in prison since July last year, when Dubai police arrested them after claiming to find synthetic cannabis, known as “spice”, in their hire car.

The three men were then tortured, beaten by police, threatened with guns and made to sign documents in Arabic, they claim.

A statement from Mr Williams described officers electrocuting his testicles in a hotel.

He said: “I started to believe that I was going to die in that room.”

The men were initially imprisoned in Port Rashid prison together but Mr Jeerh was moved alone to the Al Awir Central Jail.

His sister, Davena Kumar, said he had been made to watch other inmates be raped as a “lesson”.

She added: “He’s been in there for so long, watching the abuse and completely cut off from the outside world.”

Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer and Ilford South MP Mike Gapes have contacted the Foreign Office to call on the UAE authorities to investigate the torture claims.

But the British government cannot interfere in the country’s legal system.

Human rights lawyer Marc Calcutt said the charges against the men should be thrown out as evidence gained under torture would be unreliable.

The men are due to face a postponed trial for drugs consumption and possession with intent to supply on March 14.

They face sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment.

To sign the petition, visit www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/government-of-the-uae-release-grant-cameron-karl-williams-and-suneet-jeerh or click on the link at the top right of this article.

Are you a relative of Mr Williams or Mr Cameron? Contact us on 0208 477 3821 or email lizzie.dearden@archant.co.uk.