A BRITISH student’s appeal against his conviction in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), based on a “confession” allegedly extracted through torture, was rejected yesterday.

Ahmad Zeidan, aged 21, from Berkshire, was arrested on December 13 2013 in the Emirate of Sharjah, which borders Dubai.

He said that he was beaten by police officers, hooded, stripped and threatened with rape, before being forced to sign documents in Arabic, a language he cannot read.

Those documents were subsequently used against him in his prosecution on drugs charges.

The UAE Court upheld his conviction and refused to consider his forced confession and torture as evidence in support of his appeal.

Maya Foa, of legal action charity Reprieve which is representing Mr Zeidan, said: “This is an absolutely unacceptable result.

“Once again, the UAE authorities have dismissed crucial evidence that Ahmad’s imprisonment is based on torture and false confession, making his conviction entirely unsafe and unsound. Worse still, Ahmed appears to be being penalised for raising these grave violations of his rights. Now more than ever, the UK must do everything it can to ensure Ahmad’s release.”