The heartbroken wife of an oil worker locked up in Iraq has revealed how he’s been moved to a rat-infested cell with Taliban terrorists and killers.
Kimberley Glendinning warned that her husband, detained last month over an outstanding loan of a few thousand pounds, has lost two stone in weight after only being able to eat bread.
The devastated mum of three pleaded for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to intervene, with the chaotic UK Government appearing to have done very little to help.
Kimberley, 39, said: “Brian’s the kind of person who never gets emotional, he doesn’t cry or show anything like that. But he’s been breaking down on the phone saying he doesn’t know if he’s going to survive this.
“He’s living on basically bread, he’s sharing a tiny cell with 40 other men. One of them openly admits to killing his own relative, and there’s Taliban fighters in the same cell, terrorists.
“Now he’s stuck in a prison with terrorists and he’s had to join up with a gang for protection. It’s terrifying and it could happen to anyone if it’s happened to him.
"He’s just a normal guy who works hard and wants to provide for his family. I just want the government to help us. Please, help us.”
Brian, from Kincardine in Fife, had flown to Iraq to start a “dream job” on an oil refinery but it quickly turned into a nightmare when he was arrested on September 12 – just hours after he arrived.
Six years ago he had been working in Qatar and took out a £20,000 loan from the Qatari National Bank to fund an extension on their home.
He had made regular payments before he suffered mental health problems and returned to Scotland.
He fell behind on his repayments and the country was granted an international arrest warrant by Interpol, which was executed when he touched down in Iraq. While debt is a civil matter in the UK, in Qatar it is treated as a crime.
Kimberley said: “Brian’s always worked away, usually for four weeks at a time. For some reason, this time I just didn’t want him to go.
“I asked him if he could just stay at home but he’s never had a job at this level before. This was the most senior position he has had and he was really wanting to do it.
“When we found out he had been arrested, I was in shock but I thought he’d be out soon and it would all be sorted.
“There’s a guy in there who’s like Brian, he’s been arrested for unpaid loans or something, and he’s been there for 21 months.
“There is no way he can stay in there for that long – he needs out and we need to get him home.”
Since his arrest, he has been detained in a prison in Basra but has now been moved to another jail at the Bab al-Sheikh police station in the country’s capital, Baghdad.
Kimberley said: “This is breaking my heart and our whole family just want him home. I feel guilty when I’m doing anything.
“We had a chippie a few weeks ago and I felt bad eating that, not knowing what Brian was eating or if he had any food in that place he’s in.
“I spoke to him and he apologised to me because it’s my 40th birthday next week and he won’t be here. That’s the kind of guy he is – he’s always thinking about other people.
“Before he left he booked a table at a restaurant for my birthday but we’ve cancelled it all as it just wouldn’t feel right doing that without him. We can’t. None of us feel up for celebrating anything right now until he’s home.
“My kids miss their dad, our granddaughter Frankie is only one,and she spends so much time with Brian. She’s missing him too.
“All of this is over a few thousand pounds. He shouldn’t be in prison and being treated like this.”
Kimberley said she and children Heidi, 16, Lexi, 12 and Bailey, 20, have been campaigning for his release along with Brian’s younger brother John, and are to now hold a protest outside Holyrood this week,
They expect dozens of people to join them on Thursday to raise more awareness about Brian’s plight.
Beautician Kimberley met Brian 21 years ago and the couple have been inseparable ever since. She said: “He’s my best friend. We’ve been together forever, and I miss him so much. Every time the phone rings I’m anxious in case it’s Brian and I miss the call, or just not knowing what I’m going to find out when I answer the phone.
“I’ve been trying to just keep things as normal as possible since this happened for everyone.
“I decided early on that I would keep going to work and the kids would still be going to school. Heidi’s still going to her wee chippie job and Lexi is still going to dancing.
“There isn’t anything we can do by sitting at home, we have to just keep hoping. The longer this goes on, the more I worry.
“We just feel frustrated with what’s happened but we’re never going to stop fighting until we get him home.” Brian’s Iraq-based lawyer, Tahseen Alchaabawi, said there are no grounds to hold Brian in prison and is trying to get him freed on bail. Brian’s brother, John said: “We are trying to ask the Scottish Government to help us and why we’re doing a protest next week.
“More needs to be done to get this moving. The UK Government is in total chaos right now in London, we know that, but they need to stop it and focus on things that people need help with.
“Brian needs out of there and, even if he is released on bail at this point, we’ll take it because it means he can get out of this prison. He would have to stay in Iraq but at least he wouldn’t be locked up with all these other people, not able to wash properly, living on disgusting food. He needs home, now.”
The Glendinning family have had support from their local MP Douglas Chapman, who has vowed to do what he can to get Brian out of Iraq.
They have called for Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to meet them to urgently discuss the case. The Foreign Office said: “We are providing support to a British man who has been arrested in Iraq and are in touch with the local authorities.”
The Scottish Government said it called on the UK Government to do all it can to support Brian and his family.
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