The number of prisoners of conscience not released in the UAE prisons increased

Human rights centres highlighted the increase in the number of prisoners of conscience who are not released in the UAE prisons, despite the end of their sentences due to their illegal inclusion in the so-called counselling centres.

The Center for the Advocacy of Emirates Detainees said that the number of prisoners of conscience not released despite the expiry of their sentences rose to 19 after the end of the 10-year sentence of engineer Salem Al-Suwaidi his failure to release so far.

The Emirates Center for Human Rights called on the UAE authorities to immediately release prisoners of conscience whose sentences have expired and to stop their illegal detention.

It is noteworthy that the prisoner of conscience Salem Abdullah Rashid Sahoh Al-Suwaidi, born in 1954, is a petroleum engineer and a former Secretary-General of the Oil Council in the Government of Sharjah, and a technical official in the Sharjah Cooperative Society.

On April 30, 2012, the Emirati security forces stormed the home of the engineer Sahawa, causing panic and terror to the people of the house, with which personal property was looted. Salem was kidnapped without an arrest warrant and taken to an unknown location, where he remained in a state of enforced disappearance until his appearance at the first court session.

On July 2, 2013, the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi sentenced 56 people, including Sahuh, to 10 years in prison with an additional 3 for probation on charges of “belonging to an illegal secret organization.” He had appeared before the court as a member of the group known as the (UAE 94) group.

Many legal violations were documented during the trial, making it an unfair trial and lacking human rights standards for trials, represented by the failure to consider the victim’s statements about being tortured.

This contravenes the International Convention against Torture, to which the UAE has acceded since 2012, and deprives detainees of legal representation during the investigation period. Moreover, the investigation file was not clear, and the material evidence against him regarding the charges against him was absent.

Salem Sahouh is serving his prison term in Al-Razeen prison, subjected to human rights violations such as solitary confinement, being denied visitation, and denial of exposure to the sun and access to Islamic books except for the Qur’an.