A BRIT footballer jailed in Dubai for CBD steam oil has launched a desperate bet on freedom.
The family of 24-year-old Billy Hood has exploited his “ridiculous arrest” after he was found guilty of possession, sale and drug trafficking after police found only four small bottles of vape oil in his car.
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Billy Hood was sentenced to 25 years in prison after police found CBD in his carCredit: SWNS
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Billy’s friend had left four bottles of harmless CBD oil in his carCredit: Getty
A friend of Billy, from Ladbroke Grove, London, has said he was “tortured” and “stabbed” in a Dubai prison with a hellish hole.
Billy has now filed an appeal against his conviction with the help of militants detained in Dubai.
According to the group’s general manager, Radha Sterling, he said it was “very clear” that the court “did not even hear Billy’s defense”.
“Evidence of the allegation that Billy ‘sold drugs’ is based solely on Billy having £ 4,000 in cash in his apartment and they are fully aware that this is money paid by his employer for his coaching job,” he said. to say.
He said that as for the possession allegation “communications on social media confirm that the bottles were not Billy’s, did not belong to him and that he had no interest or desire to have them in his possession.”
“Billy shouldn’t be punished for his friend’s mistakes,” he said.
“It’s horrible that the police accused him of selling drugs and even more horrible that the judge accepted it.”
In a statement, her family said she was “angry” at what they claimed was the “propaganda” of the UAE in the case.
“Authorities first say it was CBD vape products and now they say something else,” they said.
“They seem to be only trying to save their terrible reputation after embarrassing the whole country with this ridiculous arrest.
“Billy’s drug tests turned negative. Anyone who knows Billy has given a guarantee for him and his 100% anti-drug policy.
“It is absolutely absurd that the police have not only ruined his life, but also slandered him and his reputation.
“RIDICULOUS DETENTION”
“It’s not acceptable that Billy has been detained for more than nine months by four small bottles of vape oil that weren’t even his and has no interest.”
Speaking to a friend Alfie Cain after his arrest in January, Billy described that he had to suffer horrific conditions in the well-known Al-Barsha prison in Dubai.
Football agent Alfie says Billy was beaten daily for five days while Dubai CID agents tried to force the young coach to confess to drug crimes.
“In Al-Barsha it’s been bad, I’m not going to put it down,” said Alfie, a former London footballer who didn’t belong in the league.
“When they took him to the CID drug unit they beat him for five whole days, he told me the police officers did chores on him, they hit him in the face and all they fed him was bread and little water.
“He was basically tortured and put in a cell with 30 more people for five days.”
Billy told Alfie, who was also 24, that he only signed the drug trafficking confession because officers told him that if he signed the document, written in Arabic, they would stop the abuse.
“Billy said he was told he could come home if he signed the paper, so he gave in and signed that piece of paper in Arabic. He had no idea what he was signing, but he just wanted it to stop.”
‘FORCED CONFESSION’
Human Rights Watch has hit overcrowding and unhealthy conditions in prison.
Vaping CBD oil is legal in the UK and has become a very popular product, which is generally used to relieve pain, anxiety or stress.
But sometimes containing trace elements of THC, the main psychoactive compound found in cannabis, Billy was arrested and jailed under the harsh drug laws of the UAE.
After his arrest on Jan. 31, activists say Billy was forced to sign a false confession written in Arabic admitting the most serious crimes of selling and trafficking oil.
Breda, Billy’s mother, heartbroken, told The Sun: “I don’t think there’s a word in the dictionary that describes the pain I’m going through.
“I can’t talk about it without tears in my eyes. It is too difficult to accommodate.
Breda, three, 55, said: “This is not our Billy, he’s 100% innocent.”
In a statement through his lawyers, Billy said he had just moved to Dubai to train children’s football and that he was arrested when he went to get something from his car.
“They jumped to arrest me, handcuffed me. An officer jumped up and pointed a Taser at me, threatening to use it if I didn’t cooperate, ”he said.
“They demanded that they be shown where the drugs were. I was shocked, scared and confused. I told them I had no knowledge or any drugs or substances. “
Police had told Billy that they were interested in him for something they had seen on social media.
Convinced they had the wrong man, Billy allowed officers to search his apartment and car and underwent a voluntary drug test that turned out to be negative.
In the United Arab Emirates there is zero tolerance for drug-related offenses.
Penalties for trafficking, smuggling and possession of small amounts of drugs are severe.
Sentences for drug trafficking can include the death penalty and possession of even the smallest amount of illegal drugs can lead to a minimum sentence of four years in prison.
Billy’s family has created a GoFundMe page that has so far raised over £ 17,000.
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Breda, Billy’s mother, said her son is “100% innocent”Credit: ITV
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Al Barsha Prison in Dubai where Billy is locked up
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Billy’s friend described the hellish conditions he has faced in Dubai prisonCredit: Facebook
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