On International Human Rights Day, ICFUAE calls for the release of all political prisoners in the UAE
Today, December 10th, is International Human Rights Day, a day on which we mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that, since 1948, proclaims the indivisible rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being.
In the UAE, however, human rights and fundamental freedoms are not a reason to celebrate. Since the Arab Spring swept through the MENA region in 2011, the Gulf State has undertaken a widespread and systematic crackdown on civil society through repressive Cybercrime and Anti-Terrorism laws that have seen the imprisonment of a myriad of lawyers, journalists and academics who criticized the regime online. With the help of extensive surveillance technology imported from the UK, the UAE authorities have used ‘the fight against terrorism’ as a pretext to suppress civil and political activism on social media.
World renowned human rights lawyer Mohamed al-Roken, former lecturer at the Dubai branch of the Paris-Sorbonne University Nasser bin-Ghaith, and Ahmed Mansoor, member of the advisory board at Human Rights Watch, have all fallen victim to the authorities’ extensive crackdown on freedom of speech. Al-Roken was convicted in the grossly unfair UAE 94 trial whilst Mansoor was imprisoned for “defaming the UAE through social media channels”. Convicted in 2017, Nasser bin-Ghaith was charged with “committing a hostile act against a foreign state” that “intended to harm the reputation and stature” of the UAE following tweets critical of the Egyptian and Emirati regimes. All have been sentenced to ten years for seeking democratic reform and speaking out against human rights violations.
For those who languish in detention, torture and ill-treatment are commonplace. Al-Roken has been subject to music torture and solitary confinement, whilst bin-Ghaith is denied urgent access to medical care, eventually leaving him unable to stand. Ahmed Mansoor, meanwhile, has been in solitary confinement for over three and a half years.
Not only are political prisoners mistreated and tortured, but the UAE also consistently fails to release detainees past their release date. Since 2012, at least fourteen prisoners have been held indefinitely without due process. Two of them are the women prisoners Maryam al-Balushi and Amina al-Abdouli. Both remain unjustly imprisoned in Abu Dhabi despite having completed their 5-year sentences in November.
ICFUAE statement:
“On World Human Rights Day, the ICFUAE calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in the UAE. It is of the highest priority that the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms becomes a daily reality of Emirati life.”
ENDS
