Rights activist: UAE judiciary is corrupt, run by State Security Department
Emirati human rights activist Abdullah Al-Tawil criticized the reality of the judiciary in his country, stressing that it is corrupt and run by the State Security Department and suppresses dissidents and bloggers demanding reform.
Al-Tawil said on Twitter: “The Emirati judiciary is way far from being just. A corrupt judiciary and a state-security-run prosecution that it is only aim to protect the corrupt.”
Recently, the Emirates Center for Studies and Media (Emacs) said that the United Arab Emirates state security apparatus used judiciary in foreign policy battles, which appears from a number of arbitrary detentions in the country.
When the UAE’s relationship with another Arab or Western country worsens, it resorts to punishing their citizens inside the UAE with heavy sentences that amount to life imprisonment and execution.
Usually the UAE shows its discontent with the policy of these countries by accusing their citizens which charges such as espionage, spying, or belonging to a banned group.
Recently, the UAE issued a life imprisonment sentence against an Omani citizen on charges related to “communicating with the State of Qatar” even though he was arrested at the age of 19.
Human Rights Watch and said that the trail was tainted. The 21-year-old has depression, suffers from kidney cancer, and despite that he was placed in solitary confinement and tortured by the State Security, after his arrest in August 2018.
“Sentencing a man who has depression and cancer to life in prison using a tainted confession is a harrowing example of the unfair UAE justice system,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“UAE authorities are refusing to provide information about al-Shaamsi’s condition while holding him during the Covid-19 crisis in a prison known for overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and lack of access to adequate health care.”
The relationship between the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman suffers from constant tension. Five Emiratis and an Omani were imprisoned for spying inside the Sultanate of Oman for Abu Dhabi last year, which the UAE did not deny and confirmed by the Omani political authorities.
The same behavior was repeated with Egyptian, Libyan, and Yemeni detainees, who were arrested on the backdrop of the UAE relations with their countries and those who possess American, Canadian, or British nationalities were released.
Salim Al-Aradi, Libyan who holds Canadian citizenship, and Kamal and Muhammad Al-Darat who hold American citizenships, who were released in 2016 after their prison sentence on charges of having links with the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. Abu Dhabi did not release them except under pressure from Canada and the United States.
In 2018, the UAE arrested Matthew Hedges, a British researcher, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, because he was doing researched on the military and security nature of the UAE where he was accused of spying.
During his arrest and the disappearance of his case from the media due to pressure from the UAE government, officials in the UAE alluded to the need to stop granting asylum to Emirati opponents in exchange for the release of “Hedges”, but after popular pressure and the media, “Hedges” was released with an amnesty from the Emirati president.
Emirati detainees apparently do not possess American or British passports for their misfortune. Emirati citizens, who are demanding reforms, do not hold the nationalities of other countries (not American, Canadian, or British) to enjoy their release.
There are prominent activist Ahmed Mansour, Dr. Muhammad al-Roken, Dr. Muhammad al-Mansuri, Sheikh Sultan al-Qasimi, and dozens of other activists, who have been tried in collective and individual trials on charges related to their exercise of the right to opinion and expression.
The Emirati judiciary has not moved to remove the injustice of 11 Emiratis, who are still in the counseling centers after the end of their political prison term, as the authorities fear their voices calling for reforms.
