UAE: ANHRI Calls for the Release of Twitter Prisoner “Moza Mohammed Abdouly”, the Youngest Prisoner of Opinion

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the continuation of the trial of Moza Mohammed Abdouly,18, before the Federal Supreme Court; for allegedly “insulting the Emirati state, its leaders, and its official and political institutions” as well as “disseminating false news that could harm the UAE’s reputation” via tweets published in her social networking site “Twitter” account.

 In response to the charges pressed against her, Abdouly asserted that she was not intentionally meaning or aiming at distorting any public figure, government, or institution. Her testimony hearing was adjourned to the 2nd of May 2016, until reviewing the case’s documents upon her lawyer’s request.

 Some armed men in military clothes raided, in the evening of November 19, the house of the two sisters Amina Mohamed Abdouly and Moza Mohammed Abdouly along with their brother Mohammed Musab Abdouly in Fujairah emirate. The three siblings were all then taken to unknown destination. In the same year, their oldest brother Waleed was also detained on the 29thof November, in the aftermath of a speech delivered by him after the Friday prayers objecting to the three siblings’ detention that contravenes all the religious values, traditions and norms in UAE.

 It is believed that the reason behind the detention of Abdouly’s family member is their father’s support of the extremists, who are fighting against the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.

 “After the release of the “T-shirt ant-torture” boy, Moza Mohammed Abdouly has held the record of the youngest prisoner of conscience in the Arab countries; as she is being tried for writing some tweets to lament her father”, ANHRI stated.

 ANHRI added, “if Abdouly family’s detention represents a political reprisal owing to their father’s political affiliations, then it is considered a violation of the law and constitutes a reprehensible action. It is unacceptable to bring a whole family to account depending on a certain stance adopted by their father; because sanctions (if a crime really exists) should be personalized and not be imposed on the entire family”.

 ANHRI demanded the release of Moza Mohammed Abdouly and the policy of abduction and forced disappearance adopted by the authorities- in aborted attempts to curb freedom of opinion ans expression- to be halted.