A British architect has claimed the Dubai government stole his eco-design and tried to lock him up.
Baharash Bagherian, 43, said the emirate’s landmark plans for a man-made reef, revealed at Cop28 in 2023, were based on his own idea.
The award-winning architect, who moved to Britain from Iran aged 12, told The Times he unveiled his Dubai Reefs project in May 2023 to a wave of plaudits.
The remarkable concept was set to be the world’s largest artificial reef and have ocean restoration at its heart, with exciting plans drawn up to turn it into a marine biology site.
It was also hoped the project could become a key attraction to boost Dubai’s blossoming tourism industry.
But Mr Bagherian never received a call back, he claims, and only found out the emirate was pushing on with the proposals when they were announced in front of the watching world.
Dubai showed off plans for an innovative reef concept, titled Dubai Reef, at the climate event it was hosting, complete with a detailed press release and social media posts.
And, according to Mr Bagherian, the images paraded to an impressed audience were simply flipped and cropped versions of his own work and there was no mention of him or his company, URB.
British architect Baharash Bagherian has claimed the Dubai government stole his eco-design and tried to lock him up
He said the emirate’s landmark plans for a man-made reef, revealed at Cop28 in 2023, were based on his own idea, pictured
He told The Times: ‘For those few seconds, I just froze, because I was thinking, “My God, they’re finally doing this project”.
‘But at the same time, I knew immediately that they had stolen it. At that moment, any excitement just collapsed to shock and fear.’
Things got even worse for Mr Bagherian once he informed ministers his idea had been taken, and requested they collaborate on it together.
He was charged with fraud and threatened with a jail sentence, while also being subjected to police questioning and barred from leaving the country.
The architect is still stuck there and has been too afraid to give interviews over fears he could be thrown in jail at a moment’s notice.
‘It’s been a nightmare,’ he added. ‘Not just for me but for everyone around me. It has shattered all the illusions that I had about Dubai being the safest place in the world.’
Mr Bagherian has had no reply to a formal mediation attempt, so is pushing ahead with a civil claim against the Dubai government this week.
He moved to Britain three decades ago and last lived in Clapham, south London before winning a competition to develop a net-zero city in Dubai, leading him to the Middle East in 2018.
The remarkable project was to be the world’s largest artificial reef and have ocean restoration at its heart, with exciting plans drawn up to turn it into a marine biology site
His initial Dubai Reefs designs were shown on state television and featured in a video from the government’s culture and arts authority in October 2023, just weeks before the Cop28 debacle.
The plans involved an enormous collection of artificial reefs under the sea, with eco lodges and a floating marine institute perched above.
Intricate digital drawings showed the details of the proposal, and Mr Bagherian even gave interviews discussing his vision.
In April 2024, four months after he claims he witnessed his own idea taken and advertised by the Dubai government, the architect says he wrote to five ministers whose departments were involved in the development.
Emails acknowledged receipt but not one minister got in touch, according to Mr Bagherian.
Instead, crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, went scuba diving around the first artificial reef as it was placed in the sea just days later.
There has been no suggestion that the crown prince knew the idea was taken, but Mr Bagherian asserts that someone within the government must have suggested the idea as their own at some point.
In July 2024, he was ordered by a police sergeant to come in for questioning.
But Mr Bagherian never received a call back, he claims, and only found out the emirate was pushing on with the project when it was announced in front of the watching world
He claims he was not allowed to bring a lawyer for the interrogation, which confirmed he was accused of ‘stealing a project from the government of Dubai’.
Mr Bagherian says once he explained his story, the mood changed and he was allowed to return within a fortnight with a statement and a lawyer.
He was then banned from leaving Dubai during the course of the criminal investigation.
There is currently a deadlock between police, who are looking to progress with the prosecution, and the emirate’s attorney-general who is asking for more evidence.
Documents submitted in the civil case included evidence of identical promotional visuals and the difference in the names of the two projects being just the letter ‘s’.
An intellectual property expert, commissioned by Mr Bagherian, also concluded the idea was stolen ‘without any reasonable doubt’.
Intellectual property law in the UK does not tend to cover theft of ideas not protected through rights like patents and copyrights.
The architect says he has been unable to visit his family during the ordeal and has not had the chance to introduce his new fiancee to the rest of his family.
He also could not travel for the funeral of his fiancee’s father in May.
Mr Bagherian has turned to MPs and ministers in the British government for help and wrote to Sir Keir Starmer in June, but he says he has received no assistance.
Dubai police told prosecutors the project was first discussed as far back as 2021 and two smaller reefs were installed off the emirate in the same year.
There is no evidence of proposals that match Mr Bagherian’s claimed idea so closely.
Mr Bagherian declined to comment further when approached by the Daily Mail.
The government of Dubai were also contacted for comment.