140 Characters
The social media platform Twitter limits the size of each Twitter post, or tweet, to 140 characters. According to Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, the 140 character limit was imposed to force users of the social media network to be creative. Along with millions of others users around the world, political dissidents and activists in the Arab Gulf States have taken up that challenge with enthusiasm. But their creativity in criticizing authoritarian governments on Twitter and other online social media often gets them into serious trouble.
In a nod to Twitter's 140-character limit, this report presents the profiles of 140 prominent Bahrani, Kuwaiti, Omani, Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati social and political rights activists and dissidents, and their struggles to resist government efforts to silence them. All 140 have faced government retaliation for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and many have been arrested, tried, and sentenced to fines or prison terms.
United Arab Emirates
In March 2011 as anti-government protests continued in several Arab countries, 133 citizens of the United Arab Emirates signed a petition requesting that the Federal National Council, whose mandate is to provide for public debate of legislation, be elected by universal suffrage and given legislative powers. The authorities responded with an assault on freedom of expression and association.
In April 2011 authorities arrested five activists, known as the "UAE 5," after they allegedly posted statements on the internet forum Al-Hewar Al-Emarati (Emirati Dialogue), which authorities blocked in 2010. All of the UAE 5 previously signed the March petition calling for greater democracy in the Emirates. After the Federal Supreme Court convicted them of "insults" to the country's top officials in November, the UAE's president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, commuted their prison sentences.
In April 2011 UAE authorities disbanded the elected boards of the Jurists Association and the Teachers' Association after they and two other nongovernmental organizations co-signed a public appeal in April calling for greater democracy in the country.
In July 2012 the authorities intensified a crackdown on dissidents with alleged ties to an Islamist group, al-Islah. Whereas in 2011 the "UAE 5" activists had faced charges that clearly related to the exercise of their right to freedom of expression, the 2012 crackdown on dissidents with alleged ties to al-Islah was framed in terms of national security.
The mass trial of 94 defendants for alleged links with al-Islah, known as the "UAE 94" trial began on March 4, 2013 on charges that they had been part of a group that aimed to overthrow the country's political system. Authorities detained 64 of the men and held them at undisclosed locations for up to a year before the trial, and defendants later claimed in court that they had been ill-treated in detention. The UAE Federal Supreme Court found 69 of the 94 defendants guilty on July 2, 2013.
UAE authorities have also used citizenship revocation as a tool to punish peaceful dissidents and critics. In December 2011 the UAE announced through its official news agency that it had stripped six men of their UAE citizenship for "acts posing a threat to the state's security and safety" based on their membership in al-Islah. In March 2016 the UAE revoked the citizenship of two daughters and a son of imprisoned political dissident Mohammed Abdulraziq Al-Siddiq, who is serving a ten-year sentence following his conviction on charges stemming from peaceful political activities.
Read full report: https://features.hrw.org/features/HRW_2016_reports/140_Characters/index....
