In 2015, the United Arab Emirates issued a decree that anyone trying to raise money for charity must get approval from the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department first.
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Police confirmed he recommended a crowd-funding campaign run by an American charity.
Speaking to the BBC, his mother, Penelope Haberfield, said he had only been able to change his clothes once every seven days and has to pay for water.
“His wife is under extreme stress”.
There are no blankets, or mattresses, forcing prisoners to sleep squatting in overcrowded communal cells.
Scott Richards, 43, had been in detention for 22 days after being arrested on July 28.
In the UAE, strict rules permit that people can not share fundraising campaigns in the Gulf city without written permission from the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department.
Penalties for violating the law include prison terms between two months and one year and a fine of up to 100,000 dirhams (£20,000).
Mr Richards, who is an Australian-British dual national, had been working as an economic development adviser in the UAE, where he has been living with his wife and two children.
A British man has been arrested in Dubai over a charity Facebook post.
“If they actually enforced the law as they are in Scott’s case, they would probably have to arrest 70 per cent of the country”, she added.
“I don’t think [authorities] are going to let it go”.
“There are so many laws, it’s so different, yet so many expats, but UAE doesn’t make any effort to inform expats”.
Richards is Australian but lives in Dubai with his family.
Ms Stirling said Mr Richards has not reported any mistreatment but that his family were extremely concerned for his welfare.
The British Foreign Office said that it was “providing support” in Richards’ case.
“Scott has always been very generous soul and we are shocked and dismayed that his good-hearted nature has landed in him in trouble in Dubai”, Mr Richard’s brother Brett Richards told The Advertiser.
The charity is seeking $35,000 to provide “new tarpaulins, blankets, warm clothes and socks, and sleeping bags” to protect refugees against the upcoming Afghan winter at the Charahi Qambar refugee camp.
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The BBC has asked the UAE Embassies in London and Canberra for comment.
