UAE denies the unlawfulness of the al-Siddiq siblings’ citizenship revocation

The International Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) has learned that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities have responded on June 20, 2016, to the letter of inquiry sent by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (letter no. AL ARE 1/2016, published on September 9, 2016, in the Communications report of Special Procedures, A/HRC/33/32) regarding the arbitrary revocation of the Emirati citizenship of Mr. Mohammed Abdel-Razzaq al-Siddiq’s three children (Asma, Duaa and Omar). The UAE authorities argued that the revocation of Mr. Al-Siddiq’s three children citizenship finds its basis in a decree and is a logical consequence of his own citizenship removal due to his naturalization and political activism. 

The International Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) in Geneva would therefore like to clarify the inconclusive response provided by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities and emphasize the following:

• Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Siddiq is an Emirati citizen who acquired the Emirati citizenship by law and not by naturalization. He was born in the UAE, holds a single nationality, and is, as well as his sons and daughters, an Emirati national, and not a naturalized citizen as claimed by the UAE authorities. All of Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Siddiq’s sons and daughters were born in the UAE. They are consequently Emirati citizens by birth and not by naturalization. Therefore, the State cannot revoke their citizenship as the procedure is unlawful and contrary to the Principle of the Prohibition of Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality.
• The UAE officials have summoned, on March 7, 2016, the children of Mr. Mohammed Abdel-Razzaq al-Siddiq to the Federal Migration Department, in Sharjah, claiming the existence of a decree that revokes their citizenship. They deprived them of all their official documents including their ID card, passport, driving license, health insurance and credit cards without due process, thus, leaving them stateless or what is known as Bidoons. 

The Emirati authorities did not provide the Siddiq’s siblings with the decree under which they were stripped of their nationalities. Moreover, they did not comply with the legal safeguards aiming to prevent any abuse, in addition to not providing effective remedies for them to make a judicial appeal against the withdrawal of their citizenship.

• The three siblings stripped out of their citizenship had a background of online activism for posting critical positions against the state’s policies on social media. The UAE authorities only revoked the nationality of those three siblings among ten others, which further demonstrates the practice of repression on freedom of expression by the government.  
• The Emirati government refused to renew all the family official documents before the revocation of nationality, which underlines their intention of abuse and revenge against Mr. al-Siddiq’s family.
• Revoking arbitrarily Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq’s nationality and depriving him of his liberty as part of the "UAE 94" case, in addition to unlawfully revoking the citizenship of his children, is a flagrant breach of the Principle of Personal Punishment established by Article 28 of the UAE Constitution and all other relevant international standards.
• The UAE authorities did provided measures to ensure the situation of the stateless siblings after becoming foreigners in contravention of the Provisions of the Convention of 1961, which establishes a set of Basic Rules, which Prohibit Loss or Denial of Nationality.

The International Centre for Justice and Human Rights therefore calls upon the authorities of the United Arab Emirates to:

1. Review the decision of the revocation of Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Siddiq and his three children’s citizenship and provide them with a right to redress and repair, as well as work on their rehabilitation.
2. Provide the decree allowing the withdrawal of citizenship of Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Siddiq and his children.
3. Inform, in a transparent manner, the reasons, clarifications and explanations behind the decision of depriving the three siblings of their citizenship.
4. Refrain from stripping Emiratis citizens of their nationality without providing legal guarantees, including the right to judicial appeal by an independent and impartial judiciary. 
5. Authorize the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to visit the detainee Mr. Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Siddiq and his sons in order to examine the violations that were exercised against them including the revocation of their Emirati citizenship in an unlawful breach of the Emirati Constitution and International Standards related to human rights and fundamental freedoms.