A human rights centre: Washington condemns prisoners of conscience treatment in the UAE
The Emirates Center for Human Rights highlighted the US State Department’s condemnation of the reprisals against prisoners of conscience in the UAE.
The annual report of the US State Department on human rights in the UAE for the year 2020 condemned the Emirati authorities’ practices against prisoners of conscience.
The report, which sheds light on the terrible humanitarian conditions inside the UAE prisons, stated that Abu Dhabi authorities treat prisoners held for political reasons as prisoners of conscience differently from the rest of the detainees.
The report said that the UAE authorities are placing the two positions for political or security reasons in separate sections from ordinary prisoners, noting that the State Security Agency is the one that deals with these issues.
According to the report, in some cases, the State Security Agency held prisoners and detainees in separate, undisclosed locations for long periods before transferring them to a regular prison.
Models of the UAE detainees
The American report dealt with the UAE authorities continuing to arrest the activist Mansour Al-Ahmadi after his seven-year prison sentence in October 2019.
The report pointed to the continued detention of activists from the spring and Ahmed Al-Mulla background, despite the expiration of their sentences since 2017.
The report also mentioned the authorities’ reprisal practices against prisoners of conscience by denying them their most basic rights, such as reading or even going out to breathing spaces to be exposed to the sun, and detaining them in solitary confinement for long periods.
The report cited documented human rights reports on the case of activist Muhammad Al-Mansoori, who is currently imprisoned in solitary confinement in Al-Razeen prison in Abu Dhabi, indicating that he was denied the right to visit and communicate for more than a year.
The report, citing UN experts, stated that many prisoners, including Maryam Al-Balushi and Amina Al-Abdouli, were subjected to repression.
The report documents the violations against prisoners of conscience, starting with the unfair detention and arrest laws, where some detainees were held for more than two years without charge.
Passing through the authorities’ practices against them in prisons and not ending with their arbitrary arrest despite the end of their sentences.
