EXCLUSIVE: ‘Please show mercy’: Son of British businessman, 67, who has languished in Dubai jail for almost 15 years launches personal appeal to the ruler of the Emirati state to release his father, warning ‘his health is not good’

• Son of British businessman languishing in Dubai prison begged for his freedom
• Ryan Cornelius was jailed for fraud in 2008 during a stopover at Dubai airport 
• His student son Josh last week handed a plea of clemency to the UAE embassy
• He fears his father, who contracted tuberculosis in prison, will die behind bars 

The son of a British businessman who has languished in a Dubai jail for almost 15 years has launched a personal appeal to the ruler of the Emirati state to release his father. 

Josh Cornelius, 20, has not seen his father Ryan, 67, since he was six years old when the property developer was arrested for fraud in 2008 while on a stop-over at Dubai airport.

Josh, a student, last week handed a plea of clemency to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rahid Al Maktoum at the UAE embassy in London, and revealed that he fears his father, who contracted tuberculosis in prison, will otherwise die behind bars.

‘I am asking the Ruler of Dubai to show clemency towards my dad and release him after more than 14 years in prison,’ Josh said as he handed in the letter. 

‘The United Nations have said that my dad never received a fair trial and that his imprisonment is wrong, that he shouldn’t be in prison.’ 

Josh Cornelius, 20, has not seen his father Ryan, 67, since he was six years old when the property developer was arrested for fraud in 2008 while on a stop-over at Dubai airport. Pictured: The family about a year before Ryan’s arrest 

Ryan with his two sons Anton and Josh. Josh, a student, last week handed a plea of clemency to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rahid Al Maktoum at the UAE embassy in London, and revealed that he fears his father, who contracted tuberculosis in prison, will otherwise die behind bars

Cornelius shares a cell the size of a shipping container with five other inmates. 

‘I’m not a politician or a diplomat or a businessman,’ said Josh. ‘I’m just a 20-year-old student and I want my dad back.’ 

Cornelius shares a cell the size of a shipping container with five other inmates 

Josh appealed to the sheikh as a father.

‘My father hasn’t been there to help me with my homework, to come to my sports day, to watch me playing rugby, or to give me the kind of advice that every son needs from a father. 

‘I need him back now. 

‘His health is not good, and neither is my mother’s. I want him back while there is still time for us to be a family. 

‘So I’m saying to the Ruler: ‘Surely you understand that, your highness? You are a father, too. Please let me have mine back, before it’s too late.’ 

Ryan’s wife Heather, 63, told the Mail On Sunday earlier this year that she and her three children were made homeless when Emirati authorities seized their family home in London. 

Ryan, a businessman who was developing a 20 million square-foot upmarket polo estate in the region named The Plantation, was officially convicted of fraud over a £372million loan he received from Dubai Islamic Bank. 

But his supporters, who include senior peer Lord Clement-Jones and the London-based financier and campaigner Bill Browder, insist that he is the victim of a staggeringly corrupt plot orchestrated at the highest level in Dubai by Mohammed al-Shaibani, a figure close to the Sheikh. 

They allege that al-Shaibani, who was implicated in the brutal abductions of the Sheikh’s daughters, Princesses Shamsa and Latifa, when they attempted to flee Dubai, arranged for Ryan to be imprisoned so that he could gain control of the property developer’s lucrative portfolio, which includes The Plantation. 

Although the case has attracted plenty of media coverage, including in this newspaper, Ryan is not due to be released from Dubai’s Central Prison for another 17 years. 

Ryan’s family and supporters claim that the Foreign Office has offered no assistance in their fight to return Ryan to the UK. 

Lord Clement-Jones told the Mail On Sunday: ‘Effectively, a British citizen has been allowed to rot in jail. This is absolutely unacceptable.’ 

Ryan’s children pictured more recently . Lord Clement-Jones told the Mail On Sunday: ‘Effectively, a British citizen has been allowed to rot in jail. This is absolutely unacceptable’

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