Communications Director
Peter Margetts is the Communication Director at Haigh International Justice. He is responsible for press relations and strategic communication with national, international governments and institutions, intragovernmental bodies and other NGOs.
Peter is a businessman and entrepreneur, he holds a BA honours degree in Building Management and Technology and is bilingual speaking Spanish and English. He spent 16 years living in Dubai and the Middle East. Peter fell foul of Dubai’s draconian laws on bank cheques, and spent nearly ten years imprisoned in Dubai, while originally sentenced to 46 for bounced cheques, a sentence Peter himself got reduced.
A highly successful entrepreneur, Peter set up the property and investment firm Hampstead & Mayfair in Dubai in 2004, building it up to a turnover $100m. But Dubai suffered a serious property crash in 2008, some cheques written by the company bounced, and he was given a life sentence for breaching Dubai’s fierce laws on bounced cheques. He ended up spending nine years in jail, and was only released in 2019. His time in jail – which included a hunger strike to bring the horror of the cheque cases to global attention, and suffering a stroke – is all set out in his fascinating but shocking memoir When’s Daddy Coming Home? (Conrad Press, 2020).
Detained International does not aspire to be a huge global organisation with offices or employed experts across the globe. Instead, we act as a small hub of expertise on injustice and human rights violations, working in partnership with the best local experts.
Contact Peter : pm@haighjustice.com