Maliki Mardinalli

Maliki points to them.

A Harry Potter poster and a painting made by a small child.

So this is taken from the palace?

His wife... So that's really his wife's bra?

When Sharif says he was inside, he means prison.

Sharif was jailed in Dubai for a little more than three years, from 2018 to 2021.

He hands me a paperback book with a worn cover.

So this was me in the inside.

Be a Great Stand-Up is the name of the book.

Wow, it's covered in handwritten notes.

This is your notes?

So you're inside your cell, just reading about comedy and writing in this book.

So this is a notepad you had in prison.

What's never, never speak the plan.

The shit is a narcotics charge.

Sharif was dealing drugs in Dubai and got caught by the authorities.

According to court documents, Sharif sold drugs to an undercover cop.

A snitch had tipped off the police.

He was arrested and given a life sentence, which in the UAE is a common penalty for drug offences, no matter how small.

He says he got out because his father wrote a mercy petition, a letter to the prosecutor, begging to let him go.