UAE Faces Backlash for Arbitrary Detentions over Freedom of Opinion
The UAE authorities continue to impose arbitrary detention on dozens of prisoners of conscience and have prevented or severely restricted some prisoners’ contact with their families. They have also begun a new mass trial, which included more than 80 prisoners, known in the media as the “UAE 84.”
Amnesty International reports that the UAE government maintains repressive laws and policies, which involve imprisoning individuals of conscience, isolating them from society, and limiting freedom of expression within the country.
In its yearly assessment of global human rights, the organization highlighted that UAE authorities persist in arbitrarily detaining many prisoners of conscience, while also impeding or severely limiting some detainees’ communication with their families. Additionally, they have initiated a new large-scale trial involving more than 80 individuals, referred to by media as the “UAE 84.”
The organization observed that while the Abu Dhabi government claimed to have established “safe spaces” enabling everyone to voice their opinions during the “COP28” climate conference held by the UAE, no actions were taken to revise its oppressive laws and regulations.
It pointed out that the Host Country Agreement, which serves as the legal framework for regulating “COP28,” was not published by the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This omission left activists present unaware of the specific protections afforded to their activities and expressions within the Blue Zone, overseen by the United Nations, both within its confines and once they ventured beyond its boundaries.
The organization highlighted that civil society faced remarkably strict restrictions within the Blue Zone, with Abu Dhabi’s prohibitions and crackdowns on dissent persisting outside its confines. This environment fostered a sense of intimidation.
According to Amnesty International, UAE legislation mandates a minimum 15-year prison term for those deemed to have “harmed the reputation or standing of the head of state,” while participation in a protest to disrupt public security can result in a life sentence.
The organization’s report highlighted instances of arbitrary detention in the UAE. Although 23 of the 26 prisoners of conscience, who were arrested solely for exercising their human rights, had completed their prison terms by the end of the year, authorities continued to hold them under a law allowing indefinite detention to provide “counseling to combat extremist ideology.”
The organization additionally reported that on June 5, members of the State Security Service detained Mansour Al-Ahmadi, one of the two individuals released in the “UAE 94” case in 2021. He was held incommunicado at an undisclosed location until his appearance in court during the “Emirates 84” mass trial on December 7th.
It observed that on December 7, concurrent with the COP 28 session, the UAE initiated a fresh large-scale trial involving 84 defendants, among them human rights advocates and prisoners of conscience like Ahmed Mansoor and Mohammed Al-Roken, who have been unjustly incarcerated for years under fabricated “terrorism” allegations.
The international organization reported that for the seventh consecutive year, Emirati human rights advocate Ahmed Mansoor remained detained in prolonged solitary confinement indefinitely. He lacked adequate personal hygiene supplies and was permitted only two to three visits per year from immediate family members, a practice violating the absolute prohibition on torture under international law.
The Abu Dhabi authorities also continued to deprive the prisoners in the “UAE 94” case of any contact with their family members living in exile.
By the end of June last year, Abu Dhabi authorities ceased allowing all communication with family members, including those residing within the country, for at least 11 individuals among the “Emirates 94” prisoners.
