MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A prominent rights watchdog called on the UK government on Monday to facilitate the release of a British citizen facing fresh charges for tweets about his former employers while in prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
David Haigh, an ex-Leeds football club executive, was given a two-year jail term in September 2015 for financial misappropriation, while working at Gulf Finance House (GFH), a Bahrain-based private equity group. The businessman was expected to return to Britain on November 16, 2015, after serving 18 months in jail, but was later accused of cyber slander.
"If UAE businessmen can have their partners locked up when they don’t like the tone of their tweets, one has to question whether the UAE is a safe place to make any form of criticism. The UK government should make very public calls for David Haigh’s immediate release and scrapping of the criminal slander law," Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, stressed.
The 38-year-old joined the Leeds United board in February 2013 before being appointed the club's managing director in July of the same year.
