Family of Ryan Cornelius jailed in Dubai turns to EU for help
Heather Cornelius, whose husband is detained in Dubai, has met with MEPs and the European External Action Service in Brussels.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/23/family-of-dubai-prisoner-ryan-cornelius-turns-to-eu-for-help
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Heather Cornelius, whose husband is detained in Dubai, has met with MEPs and the European External Action Service in Brussels.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/23/family-of-dubai-prisoner-ryan-cornelius-turns-to-eu-for-help
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00The European Union and members of the European Parliament have become the very last hope
00:06for the family of this British property developer, Ryan Cornelius.
00:11Behind bars in Dubai for alleged fraud, Ryan's wife Heather is an Irish citizen.
00:16Along with his brother-in-law Chris, they hope Brussels can replace the inaction of
00:21the UK government.
00:22Days like today give me a bit of hope, so today is an okay day, but every day is really,
00:30really difficult.
00:31I wake up and I think, how am I going to get Ryan home?
00:3317 years is a heck of a long time to stay sort of mentally strong, to believe that one day
00:38you're going to come out of there, even though your jailers are telling you every day you're
00:41never going to go out of there, which is what they do.
00:45And how is he doing, Heather, and how is he being treated?
00:48Can he tell you that, or is he being listened on during these phone calls?
00:51The people that are running the prisons, they're not cruel people or anything like that, but
00:55it is a dreadful way of life, you know, you're shouted at to line up at 5.30 in the morning,
01:03you know, you get absolutely awful food, the same chicken and rice every day, six days a
01:09week, and I think eggs on Friday.
01:15He hardly ever gets outside, you know, maybe twice a month outside into fresh air, the rest
01:19of the time, you're in a concrete building with steel chairs attached to the floor, steel bed,
01:24you know, it's lit up 24 hours, you know, it's just very, very difficult conditions to deal with
01:33for a week. 17 years is unbelievable, unbelievable.
01:38This Irish MEP met with Heather and Chris during their visit to Brussels. Barry Andrews has promised
01:46to raise awareness about what he calls an appalling case.
01:50The UN Human Rights Council have very clearly said that this is an injustice, and he should never
01:55have been locked up in the first place, never mind have his detention extended. He's now past
02:00the age of 70. The rules in Dubai is that you should be released at the age of 70, but that hasn't
02:06happened. So there's something extraordinarily punitive about this ongoing detention, and Ryan
02:11has significant medical needs that are not being met during his detention.
02:16The plight of Ryan Cornelius may be raised at the June European Parliament plenary session
02:22in Strasbourg. Maeve McMahon, Euronews, Brussels.