British family’s hell as husband and father is abducted, tortured, electrocuted and waterboarded by Saudi Arabian authorities – and their fears they could be kidnapped
A British woman has spoken publicly for the first time about her husband's alleged abduction and torture by Saudi Arabian authorities, as their family launched a campaign in London to secure his release. Businessman Rami Naimi, son of former Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi, was allegedly seized in Dubai in 2017 while returning from a work trip to Australia, then held and tortured for three months during a wider purge of political, royal and business figures at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel. He was detained again in 2022 for nearly two years and was sentenced last year to six years in prison following a secret trial.
His wife, Mira Lozi, described living in fear "like ghosts" in Dubai after his initial disappearance, not knowing for months whether he was alive, and said she had stayed silent since 2017 in the hope of securing his release. The family say Mr Naimi was blindfolded, taken by car to Abu Dhabi and flown to Saudi Arabia, where he was electrocuted, waterboarded and psychologically abused, before being released under house arrest after allegedly being forced to sign a settlement pledging to surrender £200 million. His son Ali, who was 12 at the time, said the ordeal left his father "a different man" and left him himself traumatised, having spent much of his life without his father present.
- British businessman Rami Naimi allegedly abducted and tortured by Saudi authorities since 2017.
- Family says he was electrocuted, waterboarded, later jailed for six years after secret trial.
- Wife and son break silence, launch London campaign to bring him home.
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Rami Naimi is a Saudi businessman, the son of former Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi, who lives with his British wife, Mira Lozi, and their family. He was allegedly seized in Dubai in 2017 and held for three months as part of a wider crackdown on political, royal and business figures that saw dozens of prominent Saudis detained at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel. He was detained again in 2022 for almost two years and was sentenced last year to six years in prison after a secret trial.
Mira Lozi has now spoken publicly for the first time, saying she stayed silent for years in the hope of securing her husband's release, and the family has launched a campaign in London calling for him to be freed. The case has drawn attention because of Mr Naimi's prominent family background and the seriousness of the allegations made against Saudi authorities, which include claims of torture and coerced financial settlements.
This background matters because it sets up why the family are now speaking out and campaigning publicly after years of silence, and why their case is being watched as part of a broader pattern of alleged treatment of business and political figures linked to Saudi Arabia.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Defenders of Saudi Arabia's 2017 anti-corruption drive would argue it was a legitimate, King-sanctioned effort to claw back billions in assets allegedly misappropriated by entrenched royal, political and business elites, and that the state recovered well over $100 billion through settlements reached during that campaign. They would add that Mr Naimi was later formally tried and sentenced under Saudi law, that sovereign states have the right to investigate and prosecute their own citizens for financial wrongdoing, and that outside critics often rely solely on one side's account without access to the evidence or proceedings involved.
The case against
Human rights advocates and the family's supporters would argue that no legitimate anti-corruption effort can justify extrajudicial abduction across borders, incommunicado detention, or torture such as electrocution and waterboarding, and that a settlement extracted under duress cannot be considered freely agreed. They would emphasise that secret trials without independent observers or transparent evidence undermine any claim to due process, that a child growing up fearing for his father's life and safety is a profound human cost, and that such cases reflect a broader pattern of transnational repression that deserves international scrutiny regardless of the underlying financial allegations.