The UAE Regime Prepares for Massacre against Political Dissidents

Concerns over human rights violations are escalating as warnings emerge of an imminent massacre targeting political adversaries and prisoners of conscience, orchestrated by the Emirati authorities through the most extensive trial witnessed in weeks.

According to Middle East Eye, the current large-scale trial in the United Arab Emirates, known as the “UAE 84” case, could result in the final remaining human rights activists facing either life imprisonment or execution. The report highlights that this action is seen as an effort to discourage opposition, particularly concerning the Gaza conflict and the process of normalization with Israel.

The website emphasized that nearly four months after what is believed to be the second-largest political trial in the history of the UAE, no one is specifically sure who is the person being tried.

Lawyers representing some of the 84 detainees refuse to share any details with their relatives, saying that they “signed agreements with the authorities not to disclose any information.”

Individuals who managed to verify that their family members were being tried were permitted to observe certain aspects of the trial on a muted screen from a separate chamber within the courtroom. They were distanced from their relatives, whom they may not have seen for several months or even longer.

A family member of one of the individuals undergoing trial expressed anonymously, out of concern for their family’s safety, stating, “It’s unbearable suffering.”

He further commented, “Despite the government’s assurance of a public and transparent trial, it lacks transparency entirely… No names are disclosed, no specifics provided—nothing.”

In early December, the spotlight turned to the UAE as it hosted the Cop28 climate discussions. While tens of thousands of delegates convened at Dubai’s Expo City, roughly 100 kilometers away, the initial hearing for the 84 defendants took place at the Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi.

 

Reports from the state-run Emirates News Agency, WAM, allege that the detainees created and ran a terrorist organization and laundered money to support their efforts.

According to human rights organizations, it seems that they have been accused under a recent anti-terrorism legislation from 2014, which has faced condemnation for enabling the conviction of peaceful government dissenters as terrorists.

A family member of one of the detainees expressed, “There’s a plan underway concerning this trial, and it’s unfair and unjust.”

The majority of the individuals currently detained are believed to be among those who were sentenced a decade ago in the UAE’s most extensive mass trial, a trial that garnered widespread condemnation from human rights organizations due to its significant lack of fairness.

The trial, held at the height of the Arab uprisings, saw 94 activists, lawyers, doctors and others who petitioned leaders for democratic reforms and were accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Many of the 84 were members of the Al-Islah Society, an Islamic society officially established in the Emirates in the 1970s with the encouragement, and even funding, of the Emirates’ rulers at the time.

However, by the beginning of the 1990s, certain leaders in the country grew apprehensive about the group’s influence within government ministries and its transition towards engaging in political activities.

These apprehensions grew during the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011, as numerous Islamist parties, including those connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, which served as the ideological inspiration for Islah, came into power across the region through elections.

In 2012, at the time of the arrest of the 94 individuals, authorities and media outlets asserted that the nation’s security was endangered by a “foreign-affiliated group,” alluding to the Muslim Brotherhood. They also stated that the detained members of Islah confessed to establishing a clandestine organization.

But members of the group and their families have denied the allegations, saying that the group has ideological ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, but not any direct ones and that any confessions were extracted under coercion.

The UAE 94 members were convicted, most of them sentenced to 10 years in prison, meaning they were due to leave prison last year. But they remain behind bars, with many placed in so-called Munasaha centres, ostensibly because they still pose a threat to society, but in reality, human rights groups say, as a way to hold on to critics and activists indefinitely.

Last June, when UN experts and human rights groups called for their immediate release, their families lost all contact with the detainnees, said Hamad Al Shamsi, executive director of the UAE Detainee Advocacy Centre.

“All the detainees have completely disappeared,” Al Shamsi said.

Six months later, as delegates reached an agreement on transitioning away from fossil fuels at the Cop28 conference, the men appeared again in court in Abu Dhabi, accused in the new trial.

While the majority of the men on trial are believed to have been part of the UAE 94, why there are now 84 defendants is a subject of speculation.

There is speculation that these individuals who are missing may have either perished or made deals with the government for their freedom, yet uncertainty shrouds their fate.

Some believe that these missing persons may have died or signed agreements with the government to secure their release, but no one is sure.

The UAE 94 defendants now on trial include Sheikh Sultan bin Kayed Al Qasimi, a senior member of the ruling family in Ras Al Khaimah, human rights lawyers Mohammed Al Rokn and Mohammed Al Mansouri, and human rights defender Abdul Salam Mohammed Darwish Al Marzouqi.

According to sociologist Mira Al-Hussein, the purpose of this trial is to dissuade those who are encouraged by the anti-Israel sentiment prevailing in the region. She asserts that the trial is not about the prisoners themselves but rather about theatrical performances meant to send a message.

Khalaf Al Rumaithi, an Emirati businessman who vanished from Jordan after being arrested under a warrant while traveling there last May, is also being tried. He resurfaced in Abu Dhabi a week later. Al Rumaithi was convicted in absentia during the trial of the UAE 94 group.

However, the group also includes economist and lecturer Nasser bin Ghaith, and human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who were not involved in the “UAE 94” case but were detained for their human rights work.

The Emirates News Agency (WAM) stated that the trial is not a retrial, but rather an entirely new case supported by a strong body of evidence, including confessions obtained during a six-month investigation period. This duration coincides with the time the men spent incarcerated, separated from their families and the outside world.

However, according to human rights organizations, the individuals under detention are facing trial for the same actions they were previously convicted for in 2013 and have already served sentences for.

Al Shamsi, who is also one of the defendants in the trial, said: “The case is very weak and the Public Prosecution has nothing.” “It’s basically a retrial.”

“The main contrast lies in the fact that whereas the authorities charged the individuals with membership in a clandestine group in 2013, they now classify their offense as terrorism-related, which could result in severe penalties such as life imprisonment or even capital punishment,” he elaborated.

A Jordanian judge is leading the proceedings. Although it’s not unusual to see foreign judges in UAE courts, there are queries regarding the choice of a foreign judge for a national security case involving sensitive information.

Why now? Some have assumed that due to questions raised by the United Nations and human rights groups, the Emirati authorities felt compelled to justify the continued imprisonment of the men.

Mira Al-Hussein, an Emirati sociologist and research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, believes that the real reason is the war on Gaza.

Hundreds of activists organized a protest march demanding a ceasefire on the sidelines of the Cop28 conference.

Hussein suggests that this proposal caused concern among the leaders of the nation that established diplomatic ties with the Israeli occupation in 2020.

“We have gone to pre-normalization levels of frankness in criticizing Israel and expressing frustration,” she said.

The rulers of Abu Dhabi showed no inclination to release these individuals and didn’t see any necessity to explain their decisions. Their attention is primarily directed towards matters like Somalia, Socotra, and the conflict between UAE and Saudi forces in Yemen.

However, according to Mira, the trial serves as a cautionary message to Emiratis. “It’s meant to dissuade those encouraged by the prevailing anti-Israel and anti-normalization sentiments in the region. It’s not about the detainees. They’re merely peripheral figures.”

She further noted that the judge’s nationality remained ambiguous. “Judges make rulings,” she remarked. “They aren’t always dictated by their beliefs and evidence,” alluding to concerns about the Emirati regime imposing its agenda on rulings.