UAE Fails to Release Political Prisoners when their Sentences End

Across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at least fourteen people are currently being subjected to indefinite detention. These prisoners are being held, often in inhumane conditions, beyond the original end dates of their sentences in breach of internationally agreed standards on detention. Many of the prisoners were sentenced following grossly unfair trials that are emblematic of the systemic injustices within the UAE.

The UAE has consistently failed to release political prisoners at the end of their sentences. Indefinite detention is primarily facilitated by the country’s draconian anti-terror legislation, which uses ambiguous criteria to force political prisoners into ‘counselling centres’ once their prison sentences are complete. Officially used to ‘guide and reform’ those convicted of terrorist offences these “counselling centres” are increasingly employed as a political tool to silence dissent, under the pretext that political prisoners pose a “threat” to the state and society. Twelve of those currently indefinitely detained are believed to be held in a centre located in Al-Razeen prison. Prisoners held in Al Razeen have consistently reported inhumane living conditions as well as the use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment by prison wardens. Conditions within  “counselling centres” are believed to differ little from the prisons in which they are located. 

Since their failure to be released last month prisoners of conscience Maryam al-Balushi and Amina al-Abdouli are now believed to also be indefinitely detained in the UAE. However, instead of being moved to a ‘counselling centre’, both women remain in the notoriously repressive Al-Wathba prison facility. Both women have reported significant damage to their mental and physical wellbeing during their imprisonment, with the Emirati authorities failing to offer necessary humanitarian support. 

The practise of indefinite detention breaks not only international standards of detention but also the UAE’s own laws regarding detention, these detentions often follow trials where the UAE fails to enforce its constitutional responsibility to provide defendants with the right to a fair trial, and to provide access to legal counsel.

As we enter 2021, the ICFUAE implores the UAE government to end the practise of indefinite detention, immediately releasing all political prisoners who have remained imprisoned beyond their initial sentence. We also demand an improvement to the standard of detention, and an end to the practise of torture across all detention facilities in the UAE.