Two British businessmen from West Yorkshire claim that they were tortured after being arrested in the Gulf holiday resort of Dubai last week on suspicion of involvement in the London bombings.

Alam Ghafoor, 34, and Mohammad Rafiq Siddique, 38, have told the BBC that they were held by United Arab Emirates security forces for ten days after being picked up at gunpoint in a restaurant at 1.30am. At first they thought they were going to be shot.

During their ordeal they say that they were deprived of sleep for four days, subjected to constant questioning, forced to stand with their arms in the air, insulted and abused. They say they were accused of training at terror camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They say that they were told they had been arrested at the request of British intelligence, and that their Government did not care what happened to them. They were told they would be killed and fed to the dogs.

Alam Ghafoor, who owns property in Dubai, said that his interrogators accused him of organising the July 7 London bombings. "It wasn't even 'you're a suspect', it was 'you're the terrorist, we know that you are linked, we know that you are part of the group, we know that you are involved in the planning of this'," he said.

"That is where the four day sleep deprivation started. They made me stand against the wall and I was verbally interrogated, it was mental interrogation.

"They hadn't let me shower and one of them came in and said: 'You are dirty, you are a dirty Pakistani, you are a dirty dog. Look at you, you smell like an animal, you look like an animal. And he made me stand there with my arms in the air for six hours. It was probably longer.

"I lost all sense of time and they were constantly coming in and out of the room to make sure that you didn't sleep or even close your eyes. It got to the point on the third day that I was actually hallucinating. I was having visions of my mother crying. I felt so lonely and deserted, I was breaking inside. All I could think was if I am going to die here, just bloody end it now, instead of trying to sustain this pain."

Mr Ghafoor told The Guardian newspaper that in his delirium he signed a false confession that he knew the bombers.

The men say they persistently demanded to be allowed to contact the British Embassy, but were not permitted to make any phone calls. Mr Siddique said that they were finally released without any apology after 10 days.

But a Foreign Office spokesman said that he had received no reports of the men being poorly treated, and claimed that British officials had full consular access.

He said: "Three British nationals were detained by the Dubai authorities on July 21. All three were released on July 30 without charge. They were given full consular contact to ensure all their needs were met."

The spokesman added: "We take any allegations of human rights abuses seriously. If the individuals want to do so, we will raise those allegations with the relevant authorities and ask for an investigation."

The Labour MP Shahid Malik, in whose Dewsbury constituency one of the men lives, called on the Dubai authorities to conduct an investigation into their allegations. He said he had no reason to disbelieve the men’s description of their treatment, which he described as "inhuman".

Mr Malik told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The Dubai authorities really need to give a full explanation. There needs to be an investigation and at the very least an apology.

"This was a very frightening experience, it was humiliating, it was degrading. It shouldn’t happen to anyone, especially not innocent British businessmen."

Mr Malik said he had been in contact with the Foreign Office, who assured him it was taking the men’s allegations very seriously.

"I have no reason whatsoever to disbelieve their accounts," he said. "If anything, I have every reason to believe their accounts. From their account, they had inhuman treatment and there was a complete disregard for the presumption of innocence. I think we need to say as a Government that that treatment is completely unacceptable."

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