Gangster style dominates the performance of UAE delegations in Geneva
The UAE Detainees Advocacy Center strongly criticized the performance of the UAE delegations in the United Nations institutions in Geneva, stressing that they are characterized by gangster style.
The centre said in a statement that the UAE participated in the initial review session before the United Nations Committee against Torture last July and sent a large delegation of 32 people, including judges and officials in the Public Prosecution and the Ministry of Interior.
The head of the committee, Mr Claude Heller, welcomed the delegation at the time, saying: “This large delegation is evidence of the UAE’s seriousness and desire to move forward with the implementation of the agreement.”
But what Mr Heller did not know was that this large delegation did not come to discuss the UAE’s implementation of the Convention against Torture but was busy pursuing and harassing British academic Matthew Hedges.
Hedges revealed in recent statements that the Emirati delegation pursued and photographed him to harass and intimidate him from testifying before the committee.
Even stranger than that, the Emirati authorities sent the security attache to their embassy in London to assist the delegation in its noble mission of terrorizing the British academic, as the Emirati attaché, who is considered, according to international norms, a diplomatic official, took charge of photographing Hedges and pursuing him in Geneva.
Perhaps the use of the security attache in the London embassy was quite clear, as the Emirati authorities wanted to send a message of intimidation to the British academic, that we have people in London and they can pursue you.
After that, the London embassy distributed a file to the media containing intimate photos of Hedges with his wife and a report on his medical condition in an attempt to blackmail him and force him to stop his human rights activities, claiming that these photos are a response to the British academic’s continuous lies.
However, what is worth stopping here is not only the UAE’s attempt to blackmail a witness before the United Nations, nor the violation of his privacy only, but the involvement of a diplomatic embassy, and officials of the Ministry of Interior and the judiciary in practising such disgraceful and embarrassing acts for the reputation of the Emirates.
Just imagine that judges and public prosecution officials tasked with enforcing the law pursue a witness in Geneva to intimidate him and prevent him from testifying. Diplomatic officials in Geneva and London engage in this farce.
What kind of image might such actions create for the United Arab Emirates, and what messages will the international community receive when it learns that officials of such weight are behaving like mafia gangs and practising intimidation in the heart of the United Nations?
How will such practices convince the Committee against Torture that we are facing a state that respects the law and it mobilizes a group of law and security experts to take pictures and harass a witness whom the UAE authorities claim is mentally ill and a liar?
What the UAE authorities did harm them more than the testimony of Matthew Hedges, and even with these irresponsible actions, they implicitly confirmed all the allegations he made about his enforced disappearance and torture.
Likewise, such “ridiculous” behaviours of the Emirati delegation confirm that these officials believe they can practice the same illegal practices they do in the Emirates without anyone holding them accountable. They do not care at all that they are in the presence of an international organization and not in the gangs’ alleys.
The Center for Human Rights emphasized that such behaviour destroys the reputation of Emirati institutions, as this delegation does not represent itself only but rather represents diplomatic and legal institutions, and such behaviour gives the impression that we are facing gangs and not state institutions.
