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Investigation: UAE’s sovereign immunity threatened in Britain due to support for terrorism

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The recent filing of a lawsuit against the UAE before the British judiciary set a historical precedent, threatening Abu Dhabi with dropping its sovereign immunity in Britain due to its involvement in its support of terrorism.

The lawsuit links the UAE to the Islamic State (ISIS) and terrorist groups that committed crimes in Syria. Human rights groups describe it as historic, the first to hold the countries involved in the Syrian conflict accountable.

Syrian refugees filed a lawsuit against the UAE in the British judiciary against Abu Dhabi funding ISIS and terrorist groups in Syria.

The Daily Mail reported in a lengthy report that three Syrian refugees had rejected the lawsuit against the UAE in the British Supreme Court, demanding that Abu Dhabi officials be tried.

The lawsuit confirmed that the war crimes funded by the UAE at the hands of ISIS terrorists in the Syrian civil war are a historical case in British legal history.

The lawsuit asserts that the UAE funded ISIS with weapons, foodstuffs, and logistics and provided vast sums of money to serve its plots.

Syrian refugees highlighted that UAE rulers funded human rights abuses in war-torn Syria in 2015, including military and financial support for ISIS and terrorist groups.

They added in the lawsuit that they saw severe torture, brutal beatings and destruction of property by jihadists who say they are armed militants backed by the UAE.

One of the witnesses said that “the smell of corpses and death spread in my beloved town, and there was no life left in it.” The three are pursuing a lawsuit against the UAE through the High Court of England.

The case was supported by Amnesty International and will be the first claim of its kind as they seek to dismantle the use of sovereign immunity to defend in cases involving human rights abuses such as torture.

Observers say that if the case is successful, it will open the door wide for people to hold foreign state sponsors of extremist and terrorist groups to account through the courts of the United Kingdom.

The UAE has been embroiled in the internal conflict in Syria since 2014 with the US-led coalition against ISIS but later seceded to join Russia’s intervention in the civil war in 2015.

The refugees residing in London Mohammed Damen Al-Sulaiman, Ahmed Sharaf and Mohammed Al-Saeed tasked their lawyers with launching a prior protocol against the UAE, paving the way for court proceedings.

The lawsuit included an accusation of the UAE funding jihadists during the chaotic Syrian civil war in 2015 and alleging that they had seen Emirati-made weapons, equipment and aid packages.

The plaintiffs asked their legal team Ai Law to prepare papers for a case in the Supreme Court to drop the defence of sovereign immunity for cases of alleged human rights violations.

Tom Ellis of Amnesty International commented: “Three Syrian refugees who wanted to prosecute key individuals and institutions from the UAE contacted us, claiming that they were complicit in torture and unlawful treatment.

“These measures also forced them to flee their homes and families, to travel thousands of miles, before finally finding shelter in the UK,” he added.”

The actions, as described in compelling testimony, amount to a clear violation of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, meaning that “no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” according to Ellis.

“To that end, Ai Law has been instructed to bring this landmark case to court, and while there are some legal challenges that must be overcome if successful, it will send a clear message that governments, or any state actor charged with torture or other violations of human rights, you will be held accountable.”

For his part, the Executive Director of the International Federation for Rights and Development (IFRD) Jamal Al-Attar said that the international community cannot ignore the direct participation in financial support for the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria.

Al-Attar added that the legal procedures in London would set a precedent, as they will condemn those governments even if they are “symbolic” and will ban any future interventions that will lead to the deterioration of the Middle East.

Tom Charles, director of the Tactics Institute for Security and Counterterrorism, said: “Despite Biden’s warning in 2014 and some attempts to legislate against him, the UAE remains an ideal platform for channeling illicit funds due to the judicial complexity that includes two free money and 29 free trade zones, and its proximity from conflict areas.