UAE Tightens Autocracy Through Digital Repression and Activism Bans

The UAE authorities have relied on digital repression and intrusive surveillance technologies, alongside advancements in network communication, to entrench autocracy and ban freedom of expression, assembly, and online platforms.

Compared to traditional intelligence methods, using surveillance technologies and social media to spy on human rights defenders requires fewer resources and is more cost-effective. This has significantly contributed to the expansion of government repression, with the UAE serving as a striking example of this.

Ahmed Mansoor, an Emirati human rights activist and a member of the Advisory Board of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, was among the initial targets of the Pegasus spyware program. This program was used by the UAE government to hack into his devices prior to his arrest on March 20, 2017.

Mansoor is currently held in solitary confinement at Al-Sadr Prison in Abu Dhabi, serving a 25-year sentence while suffering from chronic health issues and being deprived of basic rights.

In addition to physical threats like arrest and imprisonment, digital repression carries significant repercussions. Prior studies have shown how such repression can lead to the deterioration of social bonds.

For instance, human rights defenders in the UAE and other authoritarian nations may feel forced to reduce communication with their families out of fear of retaliation, since autocratic governments frequently target relatives as a means of coercion.

Additionally, human rights defenders might feel it necessary to be cautious about their contacts, since government agents frequently take advantage of individuals within human rights networks to gain access to their devices and social media accounts.

These examples highlight instances of self-isolation, indicating the psychosocial impacts that may result from digital repression. However, there is limited research on the psychological consequences of this phenomenon, which is essential for fully understanding the harms of digital repression and reinforcing calls for addressing it.

Digital Repression Practices

The Gulf Center for Human Rights states that digital repression involves various digital strategies employed by governments to monitor, intimidate, and silence human rights defenders. These strategies include online surveillance and harassment.

To monitor human rights defenders and collect information about them, government agents employ spyware techniques and phishing tactics. These spyware tools allow complete access to targeted devices, including cameras and microphones, providing an extensive view of the private lives of human rights defenders without their awareness.

Similarly, phishing attempts involve sending harmful links that, if clicked, can grant perpetrators access to social media accounts, computers, or other sensitive information. These attempts are often engineered through invitations to webinars and interviews, which can be sent via email or social media accounts.

Authoritarian governments frequently utilize information gathered from surveillance to conduct online harassment, including sending threats to individuals and disseminating false information to damage their credibility. They initiate smear campaigns and orchestrate troll attacks on their social media content using fake accounts.

In addition, they can publish private and intimate details about their targets, known as doxxing. These violations and threats create pressures that often lead to significant psychological effects on the mental health and well-being of human rights activists.

Advocates for human rights highlight different psychological reactions to digital repression. These responses range from feelings of insecurity, anxiety, and paranoia to mental strain and exhaustion.

For instance, a participant in a recent study referred to online targeting as an “emotional and psychological war.” In particular, digital repression creates a sense of uncertainty regarding the level of surveillance and its possible applications, which leaves those being monitored feeling powerless.

An international human rights organization has placed the UAE at the top of the list of governments that commit “transnational repression” by targeting their dissenting citizens and opinion activists abroad.

Human Rights Watch stated that governments around the world overstep their boundaries and violate the human rights of their current or former citizens to silence or deter dissent. These violations prevent individuals from finding safety for themselves and their families.

The organization emphasized that governments and international institutions must take concrete steps to address what is commonly referred to as “transnational repression” without inadvertently infringing on human rights.

The organization released a report titled “‘We Will Find You’: A Look at Government Repression of Citizens Abroad,” which spans 46 pages and provides a rights-based analysis of how governments target dissidents, activists, political opponents, and others living outside their borders.

The report encompasses 75 cases previously documented by Human Rights Watch, involving over 20 governments, such as Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, the UAE, Iran, Bahrain, Belarus, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Algeria, South Sudan, Rwanda, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, and Egypt. While these cases do not capture every instance, they offer a snapshot of situations across four regions.

Human Rights Watch reviewed incidents of killings, forced removals, abductions, enforced disappearances, collective punishment against relatives, exploitation of consular services, and digital attacks.

The report also highlights how governments target women fleeing oppression and the misuse of Interpol by these governments.

Bruno Stagno, Senior Advocacy Officer at Human Rights Watch, remarked, “It is essential for governments, the United Nations, and other international organizations to acknowledge transnational repression as a significant threat to human rights.”

He added, “They should prioritize bold political responses that respect the human rights framework and advocate for the rights of affected groups and individuals.”

The organization highlighted that the consequences of transnational repression can be extensive, adversely affecting the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association for those who are targeted or fear becoming targets.

The cases reviewed by Human Rights Watch demonstrate how governments target human rights defenders, journalists, civil society activists, political opponents, and others they consider a threat.

The government authorities said to one dissident: “We will find you and kill you.” He disappeared shortly afterward, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

Many of the victims are asylum seekers or refugees in new countries. Government officials told one victim, from the same country, He would “die” if he dared to speak out. The families of targeted individuals who remained in their home country can also become victims.

One of the targeted individuals said, “If they can’t catch you, they will arrest your relatives.”

Some victims found themselves back in the hands of the governments they had previously escaped from, following illegal renditions to the country of their nationality.

Governments also carry out abductions and enforced disappearances. Individuals have been kidnapped from outside their homes or while on flights. Enforced disappearance has led to other serious human rights violations, such as torture and extrajudicial executions.

Certain governments have attempted to return individuals via Interpol by issuing a “Red Notice.” This is a non-binding request directed at the security agencies of all Interpol member countries to find and temporarily detain a person.

Red Notices have been issued for political reasons, including those that violate Interpol’s rules and standards, based on unfounded charges, in an effort to enlist other governments to locate targeted individuals abroad.

Governments have targeted individuals who have not left the country as a means of retaliation against the activities of dissenters abroad. Relatives have faced harassment, threats, arbitrary detention and imprisonment, travel bans, or even murder.

Governments have used spyware to monitor human rights defenders or harass individuals online who openly criticize the government. These digital forms of transnational repression involve serious violations of rights, including the infringement of the right to privacy.

Human Rights Watch stated that governments should prioritize victims in their responses to these forms of repression. They must pay particular attention to the danger and fear experienced by refugees. They should condemn cases of transnational repression when it is safe to do so, investigate and prosecute those responsible, and enact new legislation if current laws are insufficient.

It added, “The United Nations should appoint a special rapporteur on transnational repression to report on government efforts to combat this repression. Interpol should establish binding human rights criteria for member governments to issue Red Notices and scrutinize the practices of governments with poor human rights records when they submit Red Notices.”

Stagno said, “Human Rights Watch’s research outlines the extensive impacts of transnational repression on the rights of victims and their families worldwide. Governments need to allocate resources to understand how transnational repression occurs within their borders and take the necessary steps to protect those who seek safety.”