The UAE arrests a British for wearing the Qatari national team shirt

In a new incident that confirms the falsity of the slogan of tolerance that the United Arab Emirates declares, The Guardian newspaper reported the arrest of a British in the UAE just for wearing the shirt of the Qatari national team during the Asian Nations Cup hosted by Abu Dhabi until the first of this month.

Ali Issa Ahmed, 26, who lives in Wolverhampton, traveled to the UAE for a holiday last month and bought a ticket for a quarter-final match between Qatar and Iraq on 22 January.

Ahmed wore the shirt of the Qatar team on his way to the stadium and did not know that doing so in the UAE is a crime punishable by a fine and a long prison time.

After his initial arrest, he was detained for allegedly making false allegations about security officials, one of Ahmed’s friends told The Guardian. The British Foreign Office said it was supporting the British incident in the UAE.

Ahmed was given one phone call on 31 August and was able to contact his friend Amer and warn him.

“This is just unspeakable. He just went to watch a football match while he was on holiday in UAE and says he was arrested and beaten after being accused of wearing a football shirt which promoted Qatar.”

“When he managed to call me officials were sitting next to him so he couldn’t say too much. He wasn’t given very long to speak to me and I’m not exactly sure what happened.” He added.

He went on “He begged us to do whatever we can to get him released so we contacted the Foreign Office and asked them to help get him released. He said he would call us back but since then we have not heard anything from him. I am in shock that he was arrested and assaulted because of the football T-shirt he was wearing. We are all so worried about him. This is very serious.”

The UAE police treated the Omani crowd in a humiliating way in the streets of Abu Dhabi to celebrate, after Qatar won the Asian Cup final against Japan 3-1.

A video clip was posted on social media sites, showing the UAE authorities chasing the Omani and Arab fans, who supported Qatar in the final and supported it in the stands and raised its flags.

The Omani, Sudanese, Algerian and Kuwaiti fans offset the absence of the Qatari fans’ from the tournament because the UAE has prevented the supporters of Annabi from entering for political reasons.

The police followed the people who were singing “Hayo al-Annabi Hayo” before they confiscate the Qatar flags without any justification. Many UAE fans supported Japan in the stands.

The authorities in Abu Dhabi tried to tighten on the masses supporting Qatar, in the time the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are imposing a siege on Qatar, knowing that Annabi could deliver a message to the world that it is able to succeed despite all the pressures incurred.

It is noteworthy that many of the Arab masses condemned and criticized the actions of the authorities of the UAE on social networking sites because of the issue of pulling the flag of Qatar.