British soccer fan faces '15 years in prison' in UAE for wearing Qatar team shirt to Asian Cup match
A British football fan was reportedly arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for wearing a Qatar shirt to a football match and could face up to 15 years in prison or a £100,000 fine.
The 26-year-old Arsenal supporter from Wolverhampton, Ali Issa Ahmad, was on a holiday in Abu Dhabi when he was given a ticket to an Asian Cup match between Qatar and Iraq. Relations between the UAE and Qatar were severed after the Saudi-led group of countries imposed a blockade on the country in 2017.
Following the diplomatic row, the UAE banned people from wearing Qatar's maroon shirt in public, and stated that anyone found with the shirt on would be fined or imprisoned, with the sentencing going as severe as 15 years in prison, the Daily Mail reported.
Ahmad, after his arrest last week, was detained in Sharjah in the UAE. He was reportedly allowed to phone his friend Amaer Lokie, who said that what had happened to Ahmad was "just unspeakable."