Prominent Sudanese activist Mohammed Farouk Suleiman was detained in January without charges - further intensifying a broader crackdown that dismisses fair trial appeals and targets dissenting voices.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 20 March 2025.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities continue their gross violations of the civil and human rights of citizens, residents, migrant workers and refugees. A prominent example of this is the recent rejection by the Federal Supreme Court of the UAE of the appeals filed by 53 individuals convicted in the case known in the media as the “UAE 84” case. They faced fabricated charges in a trial that failed to meet the minimum international standards for fair trial and due process. Foreign nationals have also been subject to arbitrary arrest and persecution.
On 19 January 2025, UAE security authorities arrested Sudanese political activist Mohammed Farouk Suleiman, 55, as he was about to board a short flight out of the country from Dubai Airport. He has been unlawfully detained for nearly 60 days without any charges being brought against him.
Suleiman is a Sudanese national figure who has long championed democracy and human rights principles. He was previously arrested for his efforts to achieve a democratic civilian transition in Sudan. He was a founding leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change, which formed a civilian political coalition on 01 January 2019.
On 12 March 2025, his friends issued a memorandum, demanding his release from arbitrary detention without formal charges, which stated, “This arbitrary detention is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a recurring pattern of violations committed by the UAE authorities against Sudanese citizens.”
The memorandum also held the UAE government responsible for any harm he may suffer due to his deteriorating health and called on the Sudanese authorities, the international community, including the UN Human Rights Council, and all activists to work for his release and to halt the UAE’s violations of the rights of Sudanese citizens who have sought refuge there due to the war.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the arbitrary detention of prominent Sudanese political activist Mohammed Farouk Suleiman and calls on the UAE government to release him immediately and unconditionally.
GCHR calls on the UAE authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and to cease violating the civil and human rights of citizens, residents, migrant workers and refugees.
The authorities must fulfill their constitutional obligations not to violate public freedoms, including freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press, and to provide full protection to journalists and media professionals.
