50 Years of UAE State Security Service: Enforcer of Repression

Half a century since its establishment, the UAE State Security Service continues to significantly restrict freedoms in the nation. A severe campaign in 2012 saw prisoners of conscience detained without charges, many of whom remain incarcerated today.

Formed on June 10, 1974, under Federal Decree No. 4 of 1974, the UAE State Security Service operates under the Ministry of Interior. According to the law’s first and second articles, the Minister of Interior serves as the agency’s president, tasked with safeguarding the state’s security and safety.

Since its founding, the State Security Service, like other security agencies, has symbolized stability in the Emirates. Its relationship with the state and citizens has mirrored that of other security entities across the country.

The method of operation of this device and its objectives, as the 1974 law was replaced by a new law, which is Federal Decree No. 2 of 2003, according to the UAE Detainees’ Advocacy Center.

The decree brought about substantial changes to the operations of the State Security Service, altering its structure and broadening its authority. It shifted the service from a body focused solely on protecting state security to an entity with powers extending beyond legal constraints, primarily tasked with surveillance, repression of Emiratis, and intrusion into their personal lives.

The legislation includes contentious provisions that contravene the UAE Constitution, granting the State Security Service authority to surveil all Emiratis and intervene in all government institutions. This underscores a significant shift in the Service’s role from protecting citizens to suppressing them and overseeing the minutiae of their lives.

The level of involvement of the UAE State Security Service in citizens’ lives has become so extensive that human rights organizations and media accounts have likened it to repressive security services from the 1920s.

A human rights report published by the Huffington Post in 2016 characterized the State Security Service as akin to the Stasi in East Germany in 1980, asserting its pervasive control over most aspects of life in the UAE.

According to a report by Rebecca Schiff on the American website “Human Rights First,” the State Security Service of the UAE exercises extensive influence within the state, infiltrating every ministry and suppressing the voices of peaceful activists. The report also highlights credible allegations of torture in the agency’s detention facilities.

The MENA Group for Human Rights published a comprehensive report in December 2022 titled “The UAE State Security Service: A Tool of Repression Against Opposition Voices,” detailing the repression tactics employed by the service.

The report documented a wide pattern of violations practiced by the agency, starting with arrest and torture and ending with harassing Emiratis and depriving them of their rights to education and work.

The reports highlight a grave concern beyond stifling opposition voices: the extensive and unchecked powers wielded by the State Security, granting it control over every facet of the country’s affairs, effectively positioning it as the de facto ruler.

Today, one can observe the extent of this authority through the presence of State Security offices across all government institutions and the implementation of security clearance requirements since 2009. These requirements mandate obtaining approval from the State Security Apparatus for nearly all activities, including job applications, promotions, assignments, transfers, and study leaves.

Moreover, the powers of the State Security Service extend beyond these administrative realms. They include the ability to revoke citizenship, terminate employment, impose travel bans, and even suspend driver’s licenses of Emirati citizens.

These powers are not merely theoretical but documented practices reported by human rights organizations. If it is possible to understand why the State Security Service has the powers to arrest citizens, regardless of the way these powers are exercised or their size, it is of course not possible to understand what is the relationship of the State Security Service to issuing a driver’s license, and why does anyone who wants to study need security approval?!

Some information even indicates that State Security officers are investigating judges and that a judge does not receive a promotion and is not transferred or appointed to any court unless it obtains security approval from the agency, meaning that “State Security” even interferes in the judiciary.

The Center highlighted the challenge of documenting the State Security Apparatus’ violations over the past decade. Describing its shift from a body dedicated to ensuring state security and safety to one that suppresses citizens and exercises control over all aspects of life in the Emirates would require comprehensive, ongoing reporting efforts, not just a single assessment.

Furthermore, the Center noted that the extensive powers and interventions conducted by the State Security Agency demand urgent intervention from authorities. Protecting state security should not come at the expense of the rights and freedoms of Emirati citizens and expatriates residing in the country.