Important Facts You Have to Know about the UAE
Since breaking from British colonial rule in 1971 and in line with the strategic vision of the nations first president H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi have utilised strategic economic planning to emerge as global powers. Importantly, recognition of international best practices also saw an early UAE commitment to developing human rights legislation. In reality however, such a commitment is called to question by ongoing themes of human rights abuse.
More generally, the UAE has a three tier court, which, in terms of the law, permits affected parties to contest their cases. Nevertheless, the countries’ judiciary is completely autonomous, with judges being bound only by the rule of law and their own conscience. Moreover, since the wake of the Arab Spring, Emirati authorities have enacted increasingly repressive restrictions on - and penal responses to - the freedom of expression of activists, journalists, lawyers and students.
The "UAE 94" case
Of central significance is the trial of the “UAE 5” in 2011. These activists were convicted after peacefully advocating for political freedom. Amongst those convicted are Ahmed Mansoor and Dr Nasser bin Ghaith, who despite being pardoned in 2012 have since been arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Following this was the case of the “UAE 94” in 2013, in which 94 disparate academics and lawyers were arrested on unsubstantiated claims that they sought to overthrow the government after they signed a petition calling for democratic reform. Of the 94 arrested, 69 were sentenced to between 7 and 15 years sentences of imprisonment.
Subsequently, UAE authorities have continued to restrict the rights and freedoms of various activists, non-governmental organisations and the outlawed civil society organisation al-Islah - with some members having been stripped of citizenship and detained.
200 Political Prisoners:
Today, more than 200 political prisoners remain imprisoned for nonviolent political expression, often following unfair trials. Notably, this includes Dr Mohamed Al-Roken and Mohammed al-Mansoori, who were both convicted in the UAE-94 trial. Whilst in detention, Dr Mohamed Al-Roken has been subject to various violations of his basic rights including psychological intimidation and being denied access to his lawyer. Mohammed Al-Mansoori has also endured numerous rights abuses, including after his initial arrest when he was subjected to enforced disappearance for 231 days in an unknown place, where he was subjected to torture.
Such was also the case for Amina Al-Abdouli and Maryam Al-Balushi, both of whom were detained and arrested in 2015. Amina’s arrest followed her posting a tweet in support of the Arab Spring after her father was killed in Syria, whilst Maryam was arrested for financially supporting a Syrian family in need. Following their arrests, both women were held in an unknown location where they were denied access to the outside world, beaten, and endured solitary confinement. Despite being due for release in 2019, both women remain behind bars, where they continue to experience various abuses of their human rights.
Other political prisoners include Nasser bin Ghaith, an economics instructor at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, incarcerated since 2015; and notable human rights campaigner Ahmed Mansoor, who has experienced prolonged periods of degradation and isolation.
In part, such responses have been facilitated by ambiguities embedded within key legislation. Such is particularly apparent within the UAE’s Cybercrime and Terrorism Laws, wherein a vague definition of what can be considered as terrorism has allowed for numerous activists to be arbitrarily labelled ‘enemies of the state’ and their peaceful protests to be defined as legal offences which ‘Adopt extremist or terrorist thought’.
Consequently, the UAE’s counter-terrorism law has contributed to alarming trends of unsubstantiated arrest, torture, and indefinite and arbitrary detention. Many prisoners have remained held past their set release dates, most often in Abu Dhabi’s al-Razeen prison (famed for its harsh conditions). For example, Omran Ali al-Harithi, a defendant in the UAE-94 trial, should have been freed in July 2019, and Abdullah Ebrahim al-Helu, convicted in June 2016 of affiliation to al-charity Islah's arm, should have been released in May 2017.
Women’s rights:
UAE law does not only discriminate against freedom of expression however, but also against gender. Following International Women’s Day, there is also need to highlight ongoing trends of discrimination against girls and women within UAE legislation. For instance, the Law on Personal Status affords husbands, and courts, the power to decide on whether a married woman can leave the home to work. Moreover, it was only in late 2016 that the legislation removed “a husbands discipline of his wife” as “an exercise of rights”. Lastly; whether or not children of Emirati mothers gain automatic citizenship remains at the discretion of the federal government.
