Al-Nuaimi is a well-known human rights lawyer who voluntarily defended prisoners of conscience in Qatar, including poet Mohamed Rashid Al-Ajami.
This statement was originally published on gchr.org on 30 June 2017.
Authorities in Qatar must revoke the travel ban imposed on prominent human rights lawyer Dr. Najeeb Al-Nuaimi, says the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR).
On 26 June 2017, the Capital Security Administration informed Dr. Al-Nuaimi that the travel ban previously imposed on him on 7 January 2017 has been renewed despite the fact that the Appeal Court in Qatar revoked it on 30 May 2017.
On 7 February 2017, authorities in Qatar prevented Dr. Al-Nuaimi from travelling without informing him about any possible reasons. Reports received by GCHR confirmed that the Attorney General of Qatar, Ali Al-Marri, has placed Dr. Al-Nuaimi on the list of individuals who are not allowed to travel outside the country – without any prior clarification or directing any charges against him.
Dr. Al-Nuaimi is a well-known human rights lawyer who voluntarily defended prisoners of conscience in Qatar, including poet Mohamed Rashid Al-Ajami. Al-Ajami was handed down a life sentence in 2011, which was reduced to 15 years in prison, and he was only released in 2016 after serving five years in prison because of a poem he wrote.
He describes himself on his website as “instrumental in the use of international human rights conventions and treaties to advance such issues in the country, as well as in the GCC region.”
GCHR expresses serious concern over the ongoing travel ban imposed on Dr. Najeeb Al-Nuaimi without any prior knowledge or justification. GCHR expresses further concern at the targeting of the very small number of independent human rights defenders and journalists in Qatar who are able to undertake this work, which they do peacefully and legitimately. Qatar must take steps to expand the ability of civil society to address human rights concerns such as freedom of expression, women’s rights, migrant rights and access to justice; and sustain the working environment for civil society engagement, both national and non-national.
GCHR urges the authorities in Qatar to:
– Revoke the travel ban imposed on Dr. Najeeb Al-Nuaimi immediately and without any conditions;
– Protect the civic space and allow human rights defenders and their organisations to do their peaceful human rights work freely; and
– Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Qatar are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
GCHR respectfully reminds [the Qatar authorities] that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw attention to Article 6 (c): “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”, and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present declaration.”
