Speaking of Dubai, many people think of high-rise buildings, luxury cars, and the oil-flowing thunderstorms, but who can imagine that in this bright and bright land, there is a frightening central prison in Avil.
It's not without reason that this place is called the "hell" prison by the outside world. Twenty people were crowded in a small dilapidated room, and there were many horrible things such as rape, violence and electric shock. Prisoners couldn't even get basic medical care.
First, tell the story of Tori Tovey, a 28-year-old Irish girl who came to Dubai in April 2023 and joined the Emirates Airline as an airline. Tori looks beautiful and is also able to work, and was originally travelling to Dubai, but it hit the darkest page of life.
She married a South African man named Mark, who was the head of the airline. The guy was drunk, heartbroken, and soon after the marriage he added to Tory's legs. In June 2024, Tory was beaten by domestic violence, and on July 9, she couldn't stand it, drank half a bottle of whiskey, and swallowed a sleeping pill, and thought a hundred.
What she didn't expect was that Dubai's law classified alcoholism and attempted suicide as crimes, and she was almost sent to Avil Central Prison. Fortunately, the Irish government came forward, and after diplomatic mediation, Tory was allowed to return to China in mid-July 2024, escaping the nightmare of prison. After her experience was revealed by the media, it immediately pushed Avell Prison to the forefront.
Then look at Carl Williams, the British, who was arrested in 2012 for drug trafficking and sentenced to one year in prison. The man was a construction worker, before his day in Birmingham, the day passed tightly, and in 2011 Dubai wanted to extract gold, resulting in a foot stumbled into the pit.
His experience in Avil prison wrote in the autobiography "Killing Time", reading a man's scalp. he had seen the prisoner because of a little contradiction was knocked by a knife in the neck, the blood flowed all over the ground, the prison police stood next to watch the drama, and no matter what.
One time, he was caught up by the prison police with an electrical shot, and he was paralyzed on the ground, almost thinking he was going to hang. He also mentioned that the two British men, Grant Cameron and Sunit Jell, who were with him, were also shot in the head by the prison police, forcing them to sign a bunch of incomprehensible Arabic documents. The officials of the UAE did not admit that they were blind, but the descriptions of these prisoners were one to one scary.
There is also a British woman named Zara-Jayne Moisi, who was caught in 2019 for reporting rape and was sentenced to six months. She read art history in London and came to Dubai as a bartender in 2018. She thought she would make a good life, but ended up in hell.
She was raped in a hotel. After calling the police, she not only failed to catch the criminal, but was charged with "illegal sexual behavior". The days at Arvel Prison, she said, were the scariest experiences of her life.
There were no lights in the cell, and during the day the meal was all dark, but at night the lights were bright, and she could not sleep.She also mentioned that the temperature of the prison was either hot like a sauna, or cold and straight to shake, and it was not a place to be.
Dinky Lal is another victim, a domestic worker from Mumbai, India, who was sentenced to eight months in 2020 for being falsely accused of stealing by his employer. This woman is from the slum. At the age of 16, she came out to work to provide school for her younger brothers and sisters.
She was in dire straits in prison. There were 10 people stuffed in three bunks in the cell. She could only sleep on the floor, and she was only allowed to go out to bask in the sun for 15 minutes in three months. She also said that rape happens almost every day in prison, especially female prisoners, who are left unattended at all.
Just how bad are the conditions at Arvel Central Prison? Let's talk about space first. There are 20 people stuffed in a small room of 10 square meters. Men and women live mixed, and there is no place to turn around.
There are only three beds, which are broken and squeaky. Many people can only sleep on the floor. The blankets are as thin as paper and smell of musty. Not to mention eating, the bread is moldy, the soup smells strange, and the nutrition is so poor that even mice don't like to chew it.
The rate system is similar to the army, at 6 a.m. the whistle is ringing, you have to get up, slowly step by step, you have to be beaten. In the daytime, the cell is dark like a basement, the food is all touched; at night the lights are like a spotlight, you can not sleep. The temperature is also a great torture, the summer is hot with sweat and the back, the winter is cold with bone pain.
In 2019, there were reports that AIDS patients in prisons had no medicine to eat. In 2020, COVID-19 pandemic came, and the cells were crowded like canned sardines, and the virus spread rapidly. Medical conditions are almost zero, and you don't want to see a doctor unless you are dying.
Violence here is the usual meal. Prisoners fight as often as eating, with a knife with an electrical stick, a little contradiction can kill people. Carl Williams wrote that he had seen someone beaten in the neck, dead at the scene, the prison police stood next to watch the fun.
There are also people who are scratched, bloodshed all over the ground, and no one cares about it. The electric shock punishment of the prison police is harsher, and they are all electrified and painfully suspected of life. The situation of female prisoners is worse, and the report of 2024 mentions that rape here is like a home meal, and the confined cell with men and women gives too much space for violence.
Zara-Jayne said that she had seen female prisoners dragged to the corner with her own eyes, and screams echoed in the corridor, but the prison guards pretended not to hear them. Dinky Lal also mentioned that female prisoners don't even have basic protection and are on tenterhooks every day.
The prison is also completely isolated from the outside world. can't watch TV, can't make phone calls, visiting is almost impossible.Karl says he hasn't been in contact with his family for a whole year and feels like he's broken the line with the world.
Zara and Dinci also mentioned that in prison not even a letter can be sent out, loneliness can drive people crazy. Food is not only small, it can not be dirty, the rice can eat the sand, bread can grow green hair. During the epidemic, prisoners do not get a mask, coughing sounds and sick can only bear hard.
After Tory’s case broke out, in July 2024, the media blasted the pot, and the headlines of the major Irish newspapers were all her stories.
The Irish Foreign Ministry rushed out to seek the UAE government to negotiate, and on July 15th, Tory finally got on the plane back to Dublin and escaped her nightmare.
Her story has spread the bad reputation of Avil prison around the world, and human rights organizations have begun to look at the place and demand an investigation.
After Carl Williams was released in 2013, he returned to Birmingham, where he wrote an autobiography, shaking up the horror experience of the prison, but when he returned home, he had a bad time, had nightmares at night, often screamed in the middle of the night and waked up, and his family was overwhelmed enough by him.
He tried to find a job, but the psychological shadow was too heavy, and he resigned for as long as he could, and finally spent his life on relief.
Zara-Jayne Moisi was released from prison in 2020 and returned to London. She began to tell the media about her experience, hoping that more people would know the truth about Dubai prisons. She has also joined human rights organizations calling for reform of Dubai's judicial system, but with little effect.
Every time she mentions prison, her hands tremble and her eyes are full of fatigue.Dincy Larr left prison in 2021, returned to Mumbai, continued to do housework, and her days were no different than before.She didn't like to talk about prison, and friends said she was sleepy at night, sitting by the bed.