A coalition of human rights organizations calls for the UAE to be held accountable before the Committee against Torture
A coalition of four human rights organizations called for the UAE to be held accountable before the United Nations Committee Against Torture for the torture and ill-treatment of human rights defenders and activists in prisons and secret places of detention.
The Gulf Center for Human Rights, the International Service for Human Rights, the International Campaign for Freedom in the Emirates and the World Organization Against Torture issued an updated joint report to be submitted to the United Nations Committee Against Torture regarding the UAE review.
The United Nations Committee against Torture is scheduled to convene on the UAE review on the 13th and 14th of next month after the session was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic to the 74th session.
In the submitted report, human rights organizations summarized the situation related to torture in the UAE, including its laws and international obligations, the practice of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in UAE prisons, along with specific examples of human rights defenders and other prisoners, including women, the use of forced confessions, the lack of redress for torture victims and the state’s response to torture reports.
The four organizations updated the report submitted in 2020 by documenting widespread torture and abuses in prison, including the use of prolonged solitary confinement.
The report states, “The UAE authorities have prosecuted and imprisoned dozens of human rights defenders, political activists, journalists and critics, and systematically silenced peaceful dissent.”
The human rights report stated that the campaign launched by the UAE to suppress the right to freedom of expression is rigorous to the extent that there is currently a lack of freedom of expression and civil space in the country.
Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, said, “We are particularly concerned that our fellow GCHR Advisory Board member, Ahmed Mansoor, is being held in permanent solitary confinement in unsanitary conditions, without a bed, mattress or pillow, causing his mental health to deteriorate.”
Ibrahim added, “the Emirati authorities should release Ahmed Mansour immediately and without any conditions.”
Gerald Stabrook, Secretary-General of the World Organization Against Torture, stressed that the UAE’s long-awaited upcoming review is more urgent in light of the country’s continued non-compliance with the Convention against Torture.
Stabrook stated that despite ratifying the convention in 2012, torture remains widespread in the UAE criminal justice system, from arrest and interrogation to detention.
This initial review comes nearly ten years after the State party’s ratification of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Degrading or Inhuman Treatment or Punishment.
“The UAE authorities have subjected human rights defenders and activists to arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, prolonged incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials and harsh prison sentences under the pretext of national security,” said Salma Al Husseini, Program Director of the Human Rights Council at the International Service for Human Rights just for their peaceful human rights activities, including working with United Nations mechanisms.”
In their report, the four organizations called on the UAE to abolish reservations to the Convention against Torture, ratify the Optional Protocol, and ensure adequate legal redress by investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators.
She also urged UN pressure on the UAE authorities to allow UN Special Rapporteurs to visit prisoners of conscience.
The human rights organizations also recommended that the authorities allow an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of prisoner of conscience Alia Abdel Nour in prison in 2019 and hold those responsible for allegations of torture, ill-treatment and neglect accountable.
Tragically, the CAT review came too late to seek justice for Polish fitness expert Artur Lijska, who wanted to file a legal complaint about his torture and ill-treatment in Al-Sadr prison in 2018 and 2019 to demand compensation for his torture and unlawful imprisonment. Lijska passed away in May 2021 after suffering from severe physical and psychological pain.
