Why, I asked him, do we hear so little criticism of the UAE from democratic nations? "The UAE is hugely important to the UK on a governmental and trade level. The UAE's armed forces are one of the best equipped in the world and the UAE is the third biggest arms importer," he said. "Due to this the UK attempts to buy diplomatic support. David Cameron, for example, has claimed that Dubai is progressive. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware of what is going on but is reluctant to do anything."

The UAE has been criticised for its response to the trafficking of women. In 2009, two years after the establishment of the DFWC, a US State Department report condemned the UAE for its poor record on protecting victims, calling its position "ambiguous and inconsistent". The report said that the UAE "historically has not recognised people forced into labour as trafficking victims". The director of the DFWC hit back, claiming that the UAE does support trafficked women. Lieutenant General Dahli Khalfan Tamim, chief of Dubai police, said: "I stopped reading those reports several years ago. They are full of contradictions."

I asked Afsana what support she has had from UK officials based in Dubai with her case. Very little, she said. "After Louis was snatched I sought British Embassy help quite a few times, asking them, ‘Look, I need to get out of this situation, can you get me an emergency passport?'. They said that they could not do anything because that would be aiding abduction, and they would be in breach of Dubai law, aiding and abetting a child abduction."

Afsana's claims of domestic violence were never, it appeared, taken seriously. She was asked to provide three witnesses in court supporting her claim against her ex-husband, in accordance with sharia. When she was, unsurprisingly, unable to do so, Bruno filed for defamation. This charge remains on file. "The vice-consulate said, ‘Afsana, we can't do anything, but if you're in prison we'll come and visit you'."

At a hotel in Dubai I met Ahmed Mansoor, one of five prominent human rights activists in the United Arab Emirates who were detained in April 2011 and charged with opposing the Emirati government, inciting demonstrations and insulting the country's leadership. These charges stemmed from a website Mansoor managed called uaehewar.net where bloggers criticised government officials. "I simply wanted an elected democratic government," said Mansoor. He was sentenced to three years in prison but released after seven months when the president pardoned him and the other four activists.

Mansoor was wearing the kandura, the traditional white dress of the UAE, but in place of the headdress (ghotra) he sported a blue baseball cap worn back to front. He chose the hotel because it was "quiet".

He spoke quietly and discreetly, looking over his shoulder at regular intervals. "We are hitting really the worst situation that we've seen in the history of civil rights," he said. "Actually, we are talking now of torture being systematic and state-sponsored, and that's subhuman behaviour. So you can imagine what goes in between if we are talking about things as bad as torture."

Why does he think the West seems so reluctant to criticise or even expose such human rights abuses? "Dubai branded itself really well over time. It has diversity in terms of nationalities and so forth, and superficially it gives people the impression that it is more free than it is. There are lots of businesses that you can establish here, and they have beautiful infrastructure when it comes to roads and buildings, so it gives a false impression."