Unknown fate for the forcibly disappeared UAE prisons
The UAE regime practices various and appalling forms of human rights violations, including the enforced disappearance of UAE nationals and expatriates in flagrant violation of international law and relevant conventions.
For weeks, the UAE has been under increasing debate over the disappearance of a senior military official after he uncovered major corruption cases in the country.
This means the arrest of Colonel Mohammed Saeed al-Zaabi on October 17 on the grounds of exposing corruption within the military establishment in his country, to join his father, former head of the Department of Works of the army, and detained for the same.
Since then, no credible information has been disclosed about the fate of Zaabi and his father or any judicial proceedings against them in the state that falsely claims to tolerate and fight corruption.
Prior to the arrest of the officer, he recorded an audio material in which he disclosed the reasons for the arrest of his father Colonel Dr. Saeed Al Zaabi (former head of the Public Works Department of the UAE Army), stressing that the audio will be published in the event of his arrest as well, which is likely to happen, after the spread of that recording.
According to the preface, al-Zaabi said he was going to Barzeh Al Bahar Palace in an attempt to meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and uncover corruption within the UAE army, but apparently, he was arrested earlier.
He added: “I will record this information, and if I was arrested or was hidden, this video will be posted directly to everyone to know the reason for this arrest.”
One of the most prominent names to be subjected to enforced disappearance in the UAE is Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith, who was kidnapped in August 2015 and remained hidden for up to nine months. Bin Ghaith is 10 years old, because of criticism he wrote on Twitter to the Egyptian and UAE authorities.
There is also Mohammed al-Roken, a UAE human rights lawyer involved in the reform petition. In July 2012, Mohammed al-Roken was abducted and forcibly disappeared for about eight months. Muhammad al-Roken was ill-treated and subjected to torture. He was then sentenced to ten years in prison, placed under probation for an additional three years, and stripped of his license to practice law. In 2017, Mohammed Al-Roken received the Ludovic Triario Human Rights Award.
The UAE’s human rights activist, Ahmed Mansour, is one of the most prominent activists in the UAE. He was arrested by security forces last March, and the authorities initially refused to declare his arrest. This is after the scandal of eavesdropping on him and his contacts and the phones of a wide range of human rights activists in the country.
Human rights reports spoke of others who had been forcibly disappeared in the UAE, including blogger Saleh bin Mohammed bin Saleh, who was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing tweets on his own account in February 2016.
Women in the UAE are also targeted by the state and its security services, and many have been subjected to enforced disappearance, before appearing in court months later.
Enforced disappearance is practiced as an approach in the UAE not only for citizens but also for expatriates without any legal basis.
Last month, social media activists and human rights activists interacted with the story of Omani Abdullah Al Shamsi, who has been held in state security prisons in Abu Dhabi for more than a year without charge.
The mother of the detainee, an Emirati citizen married to an Omani, said that her son Al Shamsi is sick and has been detained since 18 August, 2018, until today in Abu Dhabi, noting that he was 19 years old at the time of arrest.
The mother said on “Twitter” that her son has not yet been put on trial, and appealed to expedite his trial if he is accused, or release him to take into account his health conditions.
The UAE is holding thousands of Yemenis in secret prisons in Libya as part of its more than four-year criminal war against the country.
Among the victims of the abuses were Sheikh Abdellatif al-Shazabi, who has been forcibly disappeared in the UAE’s prisons five years ago, despite repeated calls by his family for Twitter campaigns to uncover his fate.
Human rights sources revealed that al-Shathbi went on hunger strike two weeks ago amid deteriorating health to protest against his continued arbitrary detention.
