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August 15, 2023- Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) should release all those
unjustly imprisoned in the country before the start of COP28, which will
be held at Expo City Dubai between 30 November and 12 December 2023.
UAE authorities continue to detain dozens of people who completed their
prison sentences some years ago, including 55 dissidents, lawyers and
other people convicted in a mass trial known as the “UAE94” case. The
UAE also continues to detain prominent human rights defenders, including
Ahmed Mansoor and Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, and to retaliate against people, including Amina Al-Abdouli and Maryam Al-Balushi, for speaking out about abuses in prison.
The authorities should also put an
end to other human rights violations, including: monitoring government
critics with sophisticated surveillance technology to stifle dissent;
using repressive laws to imprison human rights defenders and dissidents;
effectively denying the right to freedom of peaceful assembly through
draconian legal restrictions and practices; and denying migrant workers,
who suffer a range of violations linked to the abusive kafala system, the right to form unions.
Detaining people long after they have served their sentences
There are at least 58 people being held past the end of their sentences in the UAE. (See detailed list in the appendix).
The authorities appear to have used Article 40 of Federal Law No. 7 of 2014 on Combating Terrorism Offences,
which includes a vague and overbroad definition of terrorism, to
indefinitely detain people who have completed their sentences.
In its first paragraph, Article 40
states: "A terrorist danger exists in a person if he has adopted
extremist or terrorist thinking, such that it is feared that he will
commit a terrorist crime." The second paragraph states: "If a terrorist
danger is present in a person, he shall be put in a counselling centre
by a court judgment based on a request from the prosecution."
The process of detaining people
beyond the completion of their sentences is not transparent and lacks
minimum standards of fairness and due process. The Federal Court of
Appeal in Abu Dhabi, at the request of the State Security Prosecution,
issues referral orders to counseling centers without any fair trial
guarantees. Such detention for "counselling" can apparently be extended
indefinitely.
Authorities argue that many of the
people held beyond their sentences pose a threat to state security and
are in need of rehabilitation. Although the law speaks of "counselling
centres," people whose detention is extended in this way often continue
to be held in the same prison where they served their regular sentence.
Prisoners scheduled for release are transferred from Al-Razeen Prison to
the Munasaha (“Counselling”) Centre which is often just another
building in the same prison that is isolated from the other wings.
The majority of the people being held beyond their completed sentences are part of the “UAE94”,
a group of government critics who were arrested in 2012 and sentenced
to between seven and ten years in prison after a grossly unfair mass
trial in 2013. Among the “UAE94” group, 55 of them have completed their
sentences, yet remain in prison. They include human rights lawyers Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken and Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori. In addition, Khalifa Rabia
was arrested in July 2013 and sentenced to five years in prison on
charges related to a tweet he wrote after the verdicts of the UAE94 case
were issued, yet he remains in prison.
One of the main catalysts for the “UAE94” arrests and subsequent mass trial was a reform petition
launched on 03 March 2011. The reform petition was signed by hundreds
of men and women from across the Emirati intellectual, legal and
political spectrum and had two main demands: democratic elections for
the UAE’s Federal National Council and constitutional amendments to
shore up the Federal National Council’s legislative and oversight
powers. More than 30 petition signatories were charged as defendants in
the UAE94 trial.
In addition to holding many beyond
their sentences, UAE authorities have obstructed contact between some
UAE94 prisoners and their families by only allowing calls or visits
months apart, and have denied all calls between UAE94 prisoners and
their immediate family members who are outside the UAE. This is a
violation of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules).
No tolerance for human rights defenders and dissidents
The UAE has a Ministry for Tolerance
but insists on charging, sentencing, detaining and mistreating human
rights defenders and dissidents. The UAE should immediately release
prominent human rights defenders, including Ahmed Mansoor,
who has been held in prolonged solitary confinement since his arrest on
20 March 2017 for his human rights activities, and academic Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tweeting about a previous imprisonment.
Recommendations
The undersigned organisations call
on the international community, especially governments that have
influence with the United Arab Emirates, such as the United States, the
United Kingdom, Canada and the members of the European Union, in
addition to all United Nations mechanisms including concerned special
rapporteurs, to urgently call for and take steps to obtain the immediate
and unconditional release of the prisoners listed in this appeal and to
seek an end to grave human rights violations in the UAE. We also call
on the international community to demand that independent monitors be
granted permission to visit these prisoners in order to ensure their
physical and mental health and safety.
We call on the UAE authorities to:
- Release all human rights defenders and dissidents who were
arrested, detained, charged or sentenced for exercising their rights to
freedom of expression, or other human rights including Ahmed Mansoor,
Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, Amina Al-Abdouli, Maryam Al-Balushi, and members
of the “UAE94” case;
- Release all detainees who are being held past the end of their
sentences, in flagrant violation of their human rights, and end the
practice of arbitrarily detaining human rights defenders and dissidents
in Munasaha (Counselling) Centres after they have served their full
sentences.
- Repeal the text of Article 40 of Federal Law No. 7 of 2014 on
Combating Terrorism Offences, which allows people to be detained
indefinitely;
- Protect human rights in the country, including freedom of
expression, assembly and association, and ensure nobody is arrested in
violation of these rights; and
- End restrictions on civic space and uphold human rights, including
freedom of expression and assembly, during the COP28 and beyond.
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