UAE pardoned Al-Suwaidi in a bid to cover up his deportation and torture

The UAE’s recent pardoning of Abdul Al-Suwaidi was conditional upon the Emirati prisoner providing a false testimony denying well-documented reports of his forced deportation and exposure to torture, the International Center for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) has revealed.

An eminent figure known for his international humanitarian and charitable work, Abdul Rahman Bin Sobeih Al-Suwaidi was detained without a warrant in Indonesia in 2015 as part of the infamous UAE 94 case. He was then deported from Indonesia's Batam Island in a private plane to Abu Dhabi.

In 2019, he gave a series of interviews to UAE television stations about a book he wrote in prison called "Kebanjara." During these, ICJHR say that he was forced to give a false testimony about his convictions and publicly condemn his reform group, al-Islah.

In July 2017, the UAE authorities also forced al-Suwaidi to deny his exposure to abduction, torture, ill-treatment and his unfair trial on Abu Dhabi TV and other Emirati channels.

ICJHR said that by pardoning al-Suwaidi, the UAE are sending a message to other  prisoners of conscience in the country: publicly deny reports of your torture and mistreatment, renounce your past activities - and we’ll free you.