Stephan Lherbier 33, father of a little girl, is passionate about big game fishing. Since the tender age of 4 Stephane had often dreamt of having his own big game fishing company. He lived in French Antilles for 8 years where he went fishing for pleasure, as at the time he did not have sufficient funds to live off his passion. Soon he started looking for the ideal location, which would allow him to turn his dream into reality.
After much thought, Stephan chose the United Arab Emirates, as the potential is huge and big game fishing is relatively under developed. The quality of life, the safety and the ease in setting up the company attracted this little family and they arrived in the UAE at the end of 2004.
After 8 months of activity, just when the little company Blue Marlin started to be lucrative, the boat is inspected by the Iranian Navy, whilst Stephane is sailing and fishing in the Straight of Ormuz with his German client, Donald Klein. They are soon judged and imprisoned for 18 months. They are accused of illegal entry into the Iranian territorial waters. Others would have had to pay a fine and would have been pushed back at the maritime boarder, but Stephane is given an extremely severe sanction considering the accusation.
Stephans wife and 2 and a half years old daughter are left to fend for themselves in Dubai, without sufficient resources, in a country where everything becomes a nightmare when the head of the family is absent. Ten months in Stephanes incarceration Veronique and Lola are struggling to keep up.
The purpose of this site is to help the family stay positive morally and to help them materially. Despite his terrible ordeal, Stephanes motivation remains untouched and he will not give up his dream. Hence why his family must remain positive and not give up and raise sufficient funds to help him reconstruct his dream once he is set free.
