Amnesty: UAE oppressive state that violates the rights of opponents
On the seventh anniversary of activists trial calling for reform in the UAE in the case known as “UAE 94”, Amnesty International criticized the human rights record in the UAE, describing the country as oppressive and closed to the public state.
The Amnesty Gulf Twitter account said that the UAE has not responded to any of the organization’s official correspondence for years, whether those calling for stopping the killing of civilians in Yemen, or that have requested an official comment on the findings of its research before publication.
The organization stressed that “This is not what an open country looks like.”
Amnesty indicated that it sent several letters to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed official address, but the delivery was refused.
Many international human rights organizations have previously documented serious violations of due process and fair trial guarantees in the Emirates, especially in cases related to state security, as well as torture in prisons.
These violations include arrests, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment in state security facilities. However, Abu Dhabi refuses to respond to the reports of these organizations, and at the same time its media and official institutions claim to be a tolerant state.
Last February, Amnesty International’s report on the human rights situation in the Middle East region in North Africa during 2019 documented widespread human rights violations in the Emirates, in addition to enforced disappearances, restrictions on freedom of expression, and imprisoning critics.
The report indicated that Amnesty International has documented many cases where detainees’ rights were violated as the State Security Department was responsible for most of them. Citizens were arrested without a warrant, detained without being allowed to communicate with their families or lawyers for weeks or months, and subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
During the past two days, human rights platforms and activists inside and outside the UAE have commemorated the seventh anniversary of the trial of the activists in the case known as “UAE 94” amid widespread condemnation of Abu Dhabi’s arbitrariness and violations.
The Emirates Centre for Human Rights confirmed that the case of “Emirates 94” will remain as a witness of the mock trial that detainees of opinion have been subjected to, and evidence of violations of the law by the justice system in the UAE.
