UAE’s Trial of Prisoners: The Final Blow to Concealing Human Rights Violations

Amnesty International stated that the UAE’s mass trial of prisoners of conscience marks the ultimate collapse of its efforts to conceal severe human rights abuses behind a veneer of modernity and progress.

Devin Kenny, Amnesty International’s UAE researcher, condemned the UAE court’s sentencing of 43 prisoners of conscience to life imprisonment among a group of 78 activists. This mass trial came after nearly all the defendants had previously endured 11 years of imprisonment from an earlier mass trial.

Kenney stated, “The UAE must promptly overturn this unlawful verdict and release the defendants without delay.” He described the trial as a gross miscarriage of justice, breaching fundamental legal principles, such as the prohibition against double jeopardy and retroactive punishment under laws that were not in place at the time the alleged offenses occurred.

He further noted that the mass trial of 78 Emiratis, including 26 prisoners of conscience and leading human rights advocates, reveals a covert or even overt practice of persecuting dissenters. This trial is marred by numerous breaches of the right to a fair trial, with serious allegations of torture and mistreatment that remain unaddressed and uninvestigated.

He added, “Many defendants endured extended solitary confinement, were cut off from their families and lawyers, and suffered from sleep deprivation due to continuous exposure to loud music.” The defendants and their families, who had hired lawyers and paid high legal fees, were also obstructed from accessing crucial court documents. Moreover, family members were frequently barred from entering the courtroom to attend the trial sessions. “This verdict, and the entire case, represent a blatant affront to the rule of law.”

The international human rights researcher stressed that this case should be the final nail in the coffin of the UAE’s attempts to hide its horrific human rights violations behind the facade of modernity and development.

During COP28, the international climate conference in Dubai last year, UAE authorities initiated a new mass trial, accusing 78 individuals of establishing, supporting, and funding a “terrorist organization.” Although the case began on December 7, 2023, the UAE only confirmed its existence a month later, after it was first exposed by human rights groups and journalists.

The UAE authorities were keen to keep the indictment, charges, defense lawyers, and even the names of the accused confidential, and only some leaks are known about them.

Among the known defendants, 93% (67 out of 72 individuals) had previously faced the same charges in the mass trial held between 2012 and 2013.

Nearly half of these individuals (34 out of 72) were signatories of the March 2011 pro-democracy petition that led the UAE authorities to adopt their current repressive measures.

The overwhelming majority (83%, 60 out of 72 people) of those originally accused were being detained by the UAE authorities after the expiry of their sentences under the previous mass trial.