UAE: ANHRI Calls for the Release of Omani Young Man Thamer Al Balushi and All Prisoners of Opinion
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the ongoing detention of Omani young man Thamer Al Balushi, who has been held at al-Wathba Prison in Abu Dhabi since March 2016; against the backdrop of voicing his opinion before a border security personnel in the course of the war being waged by a number of Arab nations in Yemen against the Houthi forces and the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On the 15th of May, Thamer Al Balushi’s brother “Ayoub Al Balushi” reported in an interview that Thamer has been detained in UAE since March 2016, and that is being tried over a state security case for allegedly “mocking the UAE’s policies”. He further demonstrated that the Emirati authorities arrested ‘Thamer’ in the border area a few hours after inspection, as he indulged in a discussion with a security officer, to whom he spoke about the Saudi-backed Arab coalition fighting the Houthi forces and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, known as “Asifat al-Hazm” (Operation Decisive Storm), the matter which is deemed insulting, abusive and derisive by the security man.
As a consequence, Thamer Al Balushi was deported to Al Ain Central Prison and then to Al Wathba prison that is notorious for its human rights abuses. And therein, he was deprived from having a lawyer and was not also allowed family visits.
Noteworthy, during the last period, the authorities in UAE have repeatedly arrested and detained whoever holds an opinion that is contrary to that of the executive bodies in the country whether a man or a woman. The young woman Moza Mohammed Abdouly, 18, has been forcibly disappeared for several months before she appeared in a mock trial to justify the violations she has endured. Moreover, in another incidents, the Omani human rights Muawiya Rawah, the Emirati academic Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith Al-Marri and the Jordanian journalist “Tayseer Al-Najjar”, who has been detained since December 2015, were all subject to forced disappearance.
“The UAE authorities has to set Omani young man Thamer Al Balushi free, and halt using the tools of power in the intimidation of social media activists, human rights defenders and all opinion makers; for the waste of freedom of opinion and the rule of law constitutes a threat that is posed to the entire society, and this is what we always warn against”, ANHRI said.
ANHRI demanded from the Omani Foreign Ministry to intervene for the swift release of Thamer Al Balushi. It also urged the authorities in UAE to launch the right to freedom of expression in support of democracy and the rule of state law.
