Prisoner of conscience Dr. Mohammed Al Roken Shortlisted for International Award

Prisoner of conscience Dr. Mohammed Al Roken Shortlisted for International Award

Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken has been selected as one of the three shortlisted nominees for the Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) Award 2017, the International Centre for Justice and Human Rights announced today. The Award Ceremony will take place on 19 May 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The L4L Award is awarded to a lawyer or group of lawyers who work to promote the rule of law and human rights in an exceptional way and are threatened because of their work. The objective of the Award is to strive in conformity with international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders of the UN to enable lawyers to practice law in freedom and independence, always and everywhere.

The organiser of the bi-yearly award, Lawyers for Lawyers, is an independent and non-political Dutch foundation which seeks to promote the proper functioning of the rule of law by pursuing freedom and independence of the legal profession by supporting lawyers worldwide who are threatened or suppressed in the execution of their profession.

The nomination of Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken was submitted to L4L by the International Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) in February 2017.  

Dr. Al-Roken is a prominent human rights lawyer and law professor from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In July 2012, he was subjected to enforced disappearance. Security forces arrested him as part of a wave of mass arrests that began in March 2012. The government initiated the campaign of arrests after a group of prominent activists, including Al-Roken, sent a petition to the president calling for legislative reforms. In March 2013, the UAE opened proceedings against 94 people arrested in the government’s mass arrest campaign including Dr. Al-Roken. In July 2013, Dr. Al-Roken was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and three years probation. 

He is currently detained at Al-Razeen prison, where he was ill-treated and his health has deteriorated.

 

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