UN Special Reporter Calls for Immediate Release of Mohammed Al-Roken

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawler called on her official Twitter account for the immediate release of the Emirati human rights lawyer Mohammed al-Roken as he completes his 10-year prison sentence.

Human rights defender Mohamed al-Roken ends his ten-year prison sentence in the UAE today. I hope he will be released, and allowed to travel if he wishes, she wrote in a tweet.

Dr. Al-Roken was arrested on 17th July 2012. He was held an undisclosed location for 8 months, without access to his lawyer and his family. 

On 2nd July 2013, the Federal Supreme Court convicted and sentenced Dr. Al-Roken to a 10-year prison sentence for signing – along with 132 other people – an online petition calling for political reform.

He was convicted and sentenced following a grossly unfair mass trial of 94 people (known as the “UAE 94” trial) including human rights lawyers, judges and student activists.

Dr. Al-Roken is well-known for defending victims of human rights violations in the UAE. He defended some members of the “UAE 5”, five individuals sentenced to two to three years’ imprisonment in 2012 for having expressed criticism of government policies.