Amnesty calls for Tayseer al-Najjar's immediate release

Amnesty International called on the UAE authorities to release the Jordanian journalist Tayseer Salman al-Najjar immediately and unconditionally as he has been held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.

Amnesty issued Tuesday a press release urging the UAE authorities to ensure that, pending his release, he is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and given any necessary medical treatment he may require.

The statement recalled that Tayseer al-Najjar, a poet and a journalist specialising in culture for the Abu Dhabi al-Dar newspaper, appeared before the Criminal Chamber of the Federal Appeal Court in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, on 18 January. 

This was his first court appearance since his arrest in December 2015. He was officially charged with “publishing information with the aim of damaging the reputation and prestige of the Emirati state”, in connection with a comment he posted on his Facebook account in 2014. In this comment he praised the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and criticised countries including the UAE; he denies “insulting” the UAE. The hearing was adjourned to 1 February so that he could be represented by a lawyer. His next trial session has been scheduled for 15 February.

On 3 December 2015, Tayseer al-Najjar, 43, was at Abu Dhabi airport, on his way to Jordan to visit his family, when he was approached by the authorities who told him he was banned from leaving the UAE and that he was to report daily to the security authorities. On the morning of 13 December 2015, he received a phone call summoning him to the Security Department in Abu Dhabi. He spoke to his wife on the phone at 7pm, just before entering the building. He was arrested shortly after.

Tayseer al-Najjar’s family were unaware of his whereabouts and the reason for his arrest until he was allowed to call them on 18 February 2016. He told them that he was being held at a State Security facility in solitary confinement and put under “heavy pressure” to confess. About ten days later, he made another call to his wife stating that he had been transferred to al-Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi, where he remains held. Tayseer al-Najjar had been held in detention for a little over a year awaiting trial. In this time he had not had access to a lawyer.

Read full statement: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde25/5681/2017/en/