Exposing dozens of secret prisons in the Emirates to entrench repression

The Support the UAE Detainees human rights campaign revealed the existence of dozens of secret prisons in the Emirates run by the State Security Apparatus to perpetuate the state of repression in the country and prevent any peaceful opposition.

The campaign said on its website that prisoners in these prisons are subjected to the worst forms of torture and systematic repression and suffer from poor detention conditions.

According to the campaign, the UAE authorities have established dozens of secret prisons inside the country, which are unofficial detention centres supervised by the State Security Apparatus, and some call them “coloured prisons” due to the lack of names for them and the inability to distinguish between them except by colour.

These prisons are spread within vital locations in the Emirates, such as military bases and hospitals, and are not subject to any judicial supervision or monitoring by Public Prosecution.

These prisons are temporary detention centres for the investigation of the accused, and dozens are forcibly hidden in them and witness the most heinous crimes of torture and violations. Human rights organizations have documented many human rights violations inside these prisons.

The campaign highlighted that more than 75 prisoners of conscience are being held in Emirati prisons, including 48 detainees who are being held despite the end of their sentences. In contrast, most detainees have been held for more than ten years.

Since March 2011, the UAE authorities have waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent in the country.

There have been dozens of arrests, detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, grossly unfair trials and long prison sentences against government critics, and continued harassment and persecution of their family members.

More than 100 peaceful activists and critics of the government have been prosecuted or imprisoned on broad national security or “cybercrime” charges in the UAE since the crackdown began in 2011.

As of February 2022, more than 75 of these activists are still behind bars, including some prisoners of conscience.

Although more than 48 of these detainees have completed their sentences, the UAE authorities still hold them under the pretext that they pose a terrorist threat and have been preventing them from visiting for years, citing the spread of the Corona epidemic.

Six human rights organizations have announced the launch of the “Support the UAE Detainees” campaign, which will start in March 2023 and continue until the end of this year. It aims to highlight the issue of prisoners of conscience and protect civil space in the UAE.

A joint statement by human rights organizations said that the campaign includes a group of media and human rights activities, such as electronic seminars, press interviews, and an invitation to sign the “Saned” petition, which calls on the UAE authorities to several demands, including the release of all prisoners of conscience and an end to violations against them.

The campaign takes this opportunity to call on the international community, especially the countries that will participate in the UAE’s universal periodic review and the COP 28 climate summit, and all United Nations mechanisms, in particular the relevant special rapporteurs, to intervene immediately to stop all gross violations of human rights and pressure the UAE authorities to ensure Civil space protection.

The campaign urged all human rights and environmental organizations and individuals interested in human rights worldwide to support the campaign and sign its petition.

The International Campaign carried out the campaign launch statement for Freedom in the Emirates, the International Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Gulf Center for Human Rights, the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, MENA for Human Rights, and ALQST for Human Rights Support.