United Arab Emirates

Rights groups express deep concern over severe restrictions imposed on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Since his imprisonment, Mansoor remains in isolation and continues to be subjected to inhumane conditions, says ADHRB.

Authorities arrest US human rights lawyer Asim Ghafoor, and continue to detain 40 activists after serving their sentences.

The UAE has failed to conduct an independent investigation into allegations that imprisoned Emirati human rights defenders were subjected to torture and ill-treatment before and after their mass trial.

Emirati authorities have prosecuted and imprisoned scores of human rights defenders, political activists, journalists and critics, systematically silencing peaceful dissenting voices.

In the decade since the unjust trial of the UAE94, authorities in the UAE have relied heavily on torture to silence peaceful dissenting voices, says a new report from Gulf Centre for Human Rights.

Rights groups say overbroad and vague terminology of new law provides authorities with excessive discretion to criminalise and impose lengthy prison sentences on individuals exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Governments should immediately urge UAE authorities to allow independent and international monitors access to check on the safety of Mansoor and other detained human rights defenders.

“Someone like Major General Al-Raisi, who oversaw and participated in the torture of innocent citizens, should not head an international law enforcement agency,” said Gulf Centre for Human Rights Executive Director Khalid Ibrahim.

Rights groups from the region and around the world call on Emirati authorities to release all imprisoned human rights defenders and activists detained in violation of their right to free expression.

IFEX members Human Rights Watch and Gulf Centre for Human Rights voice concerns over possible retaliation against the jailed prominent Emirati activist after a private letter detailing his extensive mistreatment was leaked to regional media.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights pays tribute to prominent Emirati human rights defender Alaa Al-Siddiq who died in a tragic car accident in the UK, and joins the growing calls for an investigation into the circumstances of her death.

The recent death of Jordanian journalist Tayseer Al-Najjar from health complications contracted during a prison term in the UAE has raised alarm over the fate of thirteen prisoners of conscience, including two women activists, who remain in Emirati prisons despite serving their sentences.

With the need to communicate and access information during the COVID-19 pandemic, rights organizations call on governments in the Gulf region to lift their ban on Voice Over IP platforms that facilitate voice and video internet calls.

Over 60 rights groups and activists urge the UAE to release all imprisoned human rights defenders and, in the interim, to comply with international standards by allowing prisoners of conscience to receive books and reading materials.

GCHR issues an urgent call on international bodies to visit prominent Emirati human rights defender, Ahmed Mansoor, who has been on a liquid-only hunger strike since September 2019, in protest of his dehumanizing prison conditions.