27
Years old · British father
~20
Days alleged solitary confinement
0
Charges brought
2
Young children, unseen since Aug 2025
The Case
A British father detained since November
Ryan Pepper, a 27-year-old British father from Kent, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates since 3 November 2025, amid serious allegations of torture and arbitrary detention.
His family and the campaign group Detained in Dubai have raised the alarm about his treatment and the conditions of his confinement. As reported, he has not been formally charged with any offence, and the basis for his continued detention remains unclear to those advocating on his behalf.
Alleged Abuse
Allegations of beatings, threats and solitary confinement
Pepper has reportedly been beaten, threatened, and psychologically abused while in custody. His family and Detained in Dubai state that he was subjected to solitary confinement for approximately 20 days.
According to those accounts, he suffered injuries including missing teeth. His advocates attribute these injuries to assaults — rather than to the medical complications from a prior surgery that have, per his supporters, been offered as an alternative explanation.
"He has communicated his fear of dying in custody through handwritten notes smuggled from his cell."
As reported by his family & Detained in Dubai
Campaigners further raise the concern — presented here as speculation — that Pepper may be under pressure to downplay or cover up the severity of his treatment, and that the full picture of conditions inside the facility may be worse than what has so far reached the outside world.
No Charges
Detained without charge; cut off from his children
Pepper has not been charged with any crime. He has been unable to see his two young children since August 2025.
The combination of prolonged detention without charge and the inability to access family or, per his advocates, independent oversight is the central human-rights concern raised by those campaigning for his release.
Diplomatic Response
UK Foreign Office involvement
FCDO
Consular support confirmed
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirms it is supporting Ryan Pepper and is raising the case with local authorities in the UAE.
Detained in Dubai
Criticism of access
The campaign group criticises the lack of unmonitored access for British officials — access that would, they argue, be needed to independently verify the torture allegations.
Sequence
Timeline of the case
August 2025
Last contact with children
Pepper is last able to see his two young children.
3 November 2025
Detention begins
Pepper is detained in the UAE. No charge is brought.
Late 2025
Alleged solitary confinement
Family and Detained in Dubai report approximately 20 days of solitary confinement and alleged mistreatment.
Ongoing
Smuggled notes & FCDO engagement
Handwritten notes reportedly reach his family; the FCDO confirms it is raising the case with local authorities.
The Other Side
The UAE position
Official denial
UAE authorities deny any and all wrongdoing. The injuries described by Pepper's supporters have, according to those supporters, been attributed by the authorities to medical complications arising from a prior surgery rather than to any assault.
Accordingly, every allegation of torture, beating, psychological abuse or improper detention set out on this page should be read strictly as alleged or speculated, advanced by the detainee's family and campaigners, and not established as fact. No independent body has, on the public record reflected here, verified the abuse claims.
This page expresses the concern — again, as speculation — that a detainee in these circumstances may be pressured to understate his treatment. That concern does not, by itself, establish that any mistreatment occurred.