The eldest son of Ryan Cornelius was 16 years old in 2008, the year his father was first thrown in a Dubai prison.
At the beginning of last month, he had a son of his own – Ryan’s first grandchild. But for that entire span, the British property developer has not been freed.
His youngest son, six at the time of his arrest, is now a 24-year-old man. His daughter, who was 19, is now 37.
‘He was a really fun dad, the short time that he had with his children,’ said Ryan’s wife Heather, who requested to keep their names private.
‘But now he’s 72 years old. He’s had a long, long time, 18 years in dreadful conditions. His life is deteriorating. He will die soon if I don’t get him out of jail.’
It was during a routine layover in Dubai, on his way from negotiations in Karachi over an oil refinery project, that Ryan was initially arrested by the Emirati authorities.
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He was eventually convicted of defrauding the Dubai Islamic Bank by failing to keep up payments over a loan – a charge he denies, with his brother-in-law Chris Pagett claiming he and his partners were $10 million ahead of the repayment schedule.
In 2018, two months before his 10-year sentence was due to come to an end, he was taken to a judge’s office and told his sentence would be extended by another 20 years.
According to information received by the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the extension was requested by the bank.
If his early release is not secured, Ryan will be 84 years old when he is finally free – and the grandson he has never met would be starting secondary school.
On Monday, Heather and Chris delivered a letter to No 10 Downing Street, urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to intervene and secure Ryan’s freedom.
Heather writes that Burnham’s speech on the Hillsborough Law in July ’emboldened’ her, saying his ‘genuine feeling’ for victims of injustice made her believe he would ‘understand what it has felt like to be me’.
Ryan’s family has been heavily critical of the way the case has been handled by successive UK governments.
Chris said: ‘What has been done to Ryan, by powerful people in Dubai, is utterly cynical – utterly, utterly cynical.
‘But even more cynical, really, has been the approach of the British government to this case.’
For the first 14 years, he said ‘their response to it was simply to ignore it’ and ‘not to bother to look at the facts’.
Then, after the UN investigation, Chris said there was a change: ‘Their posture is that every so often, about once every eight months or so, they raise Ryan’s case.
‘They raise Ryan’s case, and then they do nothing.’
He said he wrote to Ed Miliband shortly after he was appointed as foreign secretary in the summer, but he has not yet received a reply.
It is understood that Alistair Burt, the government envoy for complex consular cases, has offered to meet Heather to discuss the case.
In July, a panel of UN experts called on the Emirati government to ‘release Mr Cornelius without delay’.
They said: ‘Given his age, the length of his detention, his deteriorating health and reports of inadequate medical care and poor conditions, urgent action must be taken to avoid irreparable harm.’
An FCDO Spokesperson said: ‘The UK Government continues to raise Mr Cornelius’ case with the UAE authorities and is providing ongoing consular support to him and his family.’
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