AI, HRW: UAE Demonstrates Arbitrary Arrests of Political Activists

Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a joint report on Monday condemning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities’ detention of political activists.
Both international human rights bodies urged the UAE authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the nine political activists held “in the context of a widening attack on dissent.”

“The authorities are holding the men solely on account of their affiliation with a non-violent political group and their peaceful criticism of the government,” the report added.
According to the report, the nine detained men belong to the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah), a non-profit organization which has been engaged in years-long peaceful political debates in the country.
On this level, AI’s deputy Middle East and North African program director, Ann Harrison, stated, “The UAE authorities need to end this wave of arbitrary arrests.”
“These men, who have not used or advocated violence, are held solely for exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression. They are prisoners of conscience and should be released immediately and unconditionally,” Harrison further noted.

Most of the detained were apparently taken to custody without any detention order or charge, the AI/HRW report implied, adding that none of the detained men are known to have been convicted with any criminal charges.
Also, the government has claimed through its official news agency that it stripped six members of al-Islah of their UAE citizenship, for “acts posing a threat to the state’s security and safety.”
“This wave of detentions against peaceful dissent is a telling indicator of UAE’s deepening abuses of human rights,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW. “Their latest action, against these nine men, has once again shown the UAE government’s intentions to silence anyone who peacefully expresses political opinions,” she added.

“The government has not provided any evidence that it has taken any of the legally required steps to revoke the seven men’s citizenship, however,” the report stressed.
AI and HRW stated in their joint report their concern that the UAE authorities are threatening to strip these men of their nationality “as a way of punishing them simply for peacefully expressing dissent and to intimidate others from exercising their right to freedom of expression.”