ABU DHABI: Any observer’s lingering flights of fancy about the willingness of the United Arab Emirates to share hosting the 2022 World Cup finals with Qatar have been conclusively dispelled by the circumstances surrounding the detention of an English fan in Abu Dhabi.

Ali Issa Ahmad, a 26-year-old Arsenal fan from Wolverhampton, was arrested after the Asian Cup tie on January 22 between Iraq and Qatar because the UAE has outlawed the wearing of Qatari emblems in public amid the Saudi-led diplomatic and economic blockade.

Ahmad, who is being held in a prison in Sharjah, has told a friend that he was beaten by security forces after the match Abu Dhabi and that, when he reported this, he was charged with lying. On top of a possible prison sentence, he could be fined £105,000.

The friend Amer Lockie told The Guardian that Ahmad’s phone has been taken off him and he has not heard anything from him since January 31.

The Foreign Office has warned travellers that “showing sympathy for Qatar on social media or by any other means of communication is an offence. Offenders could be imprisoned and subject to a substantial fine.”

Last year Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt intervened to secure the release of Matthew Hedges, a research student who had been sentenced to life in the UAE on spying charges.

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