A Queensland glass specialist under house arrest north of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is desperately trying to raise money to fight his detention through the courts.

Jerry Dowling, 73, was thrown behind bars in early 2013 after returning to the UAE from a business trip to Europe, where he was securing contracts to sell bullet-proof glass to armoured vehicle manufacturers.

Before departing, he had signed over power of attorney to a trusted Lebanese employee who he claims later stole all the profits from his business and fled the country.

"The total amount of money that was siphoned off would be in excess of five million dirham ($1.8 million)," he told 7.30 from his home in Ras Al Khaimah.

"In other words, he took the revenue but left us with the liabilities."

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At least 10 blank cheques made out to suppliers and bearing Mr Dowling's signature bounced as a result, triggering a number of criminal charges against the Australian.

He spent months in various prisons and became seriously ill.

"You're literally cheek to jowl with your fellow prisoners. No mattress, just a concrete floor," he said.

"This is definitely where I got the pneumonia and subsequently pleurisy."

Mr Dowling's son Mike, who lives in Brisbane, remembers seeing a photograph of his father in hospital.

"I didn't recognise him," he said.

"I had to hand the phone to one of my daughters and say, 'Does that look like Gramps to you?'"

Mr Dowling was eventually placed under house arrest after obtaining a medical certificate stating he could not be confined to small spaces.

His lawyers abandoned him when he went broke and he is now relying on handouts from his family in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Mike Dowling fears his frail father could die there.

"Given the rapid decline I've seen in his health and personal appearance in the last 12 months, it's a worry," he said.

The family has established a Go Fund Me account with the aim of attracting enough donations to pay for new legal representation.

Maureen Dowling, Jerry's wife and business partner, remains in the UK, fearing she too will be arrested if she tries to visit her husband.

Signing post-dated cheques 'common practice in UAE'

The UAE is keen to promote itself as a modern hub for business and travel but aspects of the country's legal and financial systems remain firmly wedded to the past.

Brisbane lawyer John Sneddon, who was instrumental in securing the release of Gold Coast accountant Marcus Lee from detention in Dubai in 2014, said signing post-dated cheques and surrendering power of attorney is common practice in the UAE.

"If you want to appoint a lawyer or even a real estate agent to sell your property, you provide them with a very broad-ranging power of attorney," he said.

"And if you are entering into any sort of commercial transaction that involves instalment payments, it's quite common for you to be expected to provide someone with a series of post-dated cheques.

Jerry Dowling's family fear their father's health is deteriorating

"The problem that arises is if one of those post-dated cheques is banked by a person inappropriately, or by accident, or capriciously, and it bounces, you can wind up in jail very, very easily."

While it might be tempting to describe as foolish Mr Dowling's decision to surrender so much control of his business to a colleague, Mr Sneddon said that would be a mistake.

"By Australian standards, we'd say it's foolish and certainly not the sort of thing that I'd be recommending to my clients in Australia," he said.

"By United Arab Emirates standards, providing power of attorney and post-dated cheques to business colleagues is regarded as not exceptional.

"It's quite standard and is done by many people."

Earlier this month the UAE approved a draft proposal to decriminalise the bouncing of cheques, according to local media reports.

But Mr Sneddon was sceptical as to whether the changes would be implemented soon enough to have a positive impact on Mr Dowling's situation.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said its travel advice warns Australians about the pitfalls of doing business in the UAE.

"Having a cheque dishonoured and not paying bills, including court fines, hotel bills, personal loans and local credit card accounts, are considered fraudulent acts and may result in imprisonment," the statement reads.

"Even in commercial and other civil disputes ... Australians could be prevented from leaving the UAE until their cases are resolved."

'You don't know what's going to happen next': Lee

If anyone can relate to what Mr Dowling is going through, it is Mr Lee.

The Australian businessman was wrongfully accused of fraud and robbed of his freedom in 2009 over a multi-million dollar payment tied to a lucrative waterfront property deal in Dubai.

Marcus Lee spent nine months in a Dubai prison

Like Mr Dowling, Mr Lee became sick with pneumonia in prison and almost died.

"One of the things that scares you the most is the randomness and the arbitrary nature of what you're going through," he said.

"There's no line of sight, you don't know what's going to happen next, and even going to court — you don't really know what happened in each court session."

Last week Perth artist and teacher Jodi Magi became the latest Australian to find themselves inexplicably detained by authorities in the UAE.

The 39-year-old, who has been living in Abu Dhabi since 2012, was taken to court after she posted a photo on Facebook of a car parked across two disability spaces outside her apartment block.

She was later found guilty of 'writing bad words' about a person on social media and was deported.

"It just makes me shudder every single time I think about it. I hear about this all the time," Mr Lee said.

"For every one person you see like Jerry who's very public, or Jodi ... there's another 20 or 30 Australians who are trying to fight their way through the system in not such a public way."

As Mr Dowling continues his fight, DFAT has said it is offering him consular assistance.

"Our consular assistance has included visiting Mr Dowling while he was in custody, providing him with a list of local lawyers who could help him navigate the UAE legal process, and contacting local authorities on his behalf," DFAT said.

Mr Sneddon said there are limits to what DFAT can do and Mr Dowling is left with few options.

"He either has to find a way of satisfying financially the demands that are being made by the people who claim he owes them money, or ride out the storm and work his way through the legal system and hope that justice prevails," he said.

"The difficulty with the second option is you never really know whether justice is going to prevail and, at the age of 73, time is not on his side."