U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in McLean, Virginia, May 16, 2017 (Source: U.S. Department of State/Wikimedia Commons)


UAE

Our Concerns

  • Ongoing and systematic practice of torture to extract confessions during investigations and as a form of punishment;
  • Crackdown on freedom of opinion and expression on the basis of an ever-restrictive legal arsenal, and reprisals against human rights defenders and peaceful dissidents;
  • Marginalisation of the stateless population.

Upcoming

  • January 2018: Universal Periodic Review;
  • June 2018: Adoption of the UPR outcome documented by the Human Rights Council.

 

While the UAE is often perceived as a country of tolerance and diversity – an image supported by its cultural ventures such as the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in November 2017 – the reality is otherwise. As of 2017, NGOs estimate that there are over 200 prisoners of conscience currently detained in the UAE, nearly half of whom are foreigners. The arrest of prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor in March marked the final step in the authorities’ effort to completely silence dissenting voices to the extent that civil society is now virtually non-existent in the country.

In November, as the Louvre was inaugurated, the event was tainted with controversies and reports of abuses of migrant workers on the construction site. Two Swiss journalists reporting on the opening were arrested after they filmed Pakistani workers at an open-air market. They were blindfolded and brutally interrogated by the UAE authorities for more than 50 hours, before being forced to sign a confession in Arabic and released.


At the international level, the UAE took part in the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar, cutting diplomatic ties with Doha. In July, the Emirates ordered the expulsion of all Qatari citizens from its territories and mandated the return of all Emirati citizens from Qatar within 14 days. This policy, which constitutes a form of collective punishment, led to the separation of a large number of families, and affected hundreds of Qatari students who were barred from resuming their studies in the UAE.


Furthermore, the UAE continued its interventionist approach within the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, where it consolidated its control over large areas in the south of the country. The UAE established its foothold in Aden, where it controls the seaport, airport, and most of its military checkpoints. Moreover, according to NGO reports, the UAE is funding and managing the military forces known as the Security Belt in Aden and the Hadrami Elite Forces in Hadramaut. These UAE-backed forces have forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, tortured, and abused numerous victims, and have also operated a clandestine network of secret prisons, where hundreds are detained in dire conditions.

 

 

Systematic clampdown on freedom of expression

In 2017, the rights to freedom of expression and opinion – rights already limited in the country – were even more severely restricted by the UAE authorities, who succeeded in silencing peaceful dissidents and completely shutting down civil society space. Provisions of the Cybercrime Law No. 5 of 2012, the Law on Combating Terrorism Offences No. 7 of 2014, and the amendments to the Penal Code Decree Law No. 7 of 2016 have been increasingly used to judicially harass anyone critical of the government.

“In 2017, the rights to freedom of expression and opinion – rights already limited in the country – were even more severely restricted by the UAE authorities, who succeeded in silencing peaceful dissidents and completely shutting down civil society space.”

 

Indeed, the Cybercrime Law provides for harsh prison sentences up to life imprisonment for “anyone who publishes information aiming or calling to overthrow or change the ruling system of the state”. The text also criminalises “insulting the ruler”, “damaging national unity or state reputation” and “organising a demonstration without permission”. Moreover, the 2014 Anti-Terrorism Law criminalises nonviolent acts of criticism such as “opposing the country”. Lastly, the Penal Code, as amended in 2016, punishes anyone who “insults the president of the UAE”, or who “insults, mocks, harms the reputation, prestige or statute of the state, its flag, its emblem, its symbols or any of its institutions” with up to 25 years of prison.


Furthermore, in the context of the Gulf Crisis that erupted in June, and as the latest sign of the increased crackdown on freedom of speech, the UAE Attorney General announced that any expression of sympathy with Qatar would constitute a crime punishable by a prison sentence of three to fifteen years and a fine of no less than $136,000. He noted that these infractions would be prosecuted in accordance with the Cybercrime Law because they were deemed to be harmful to the nation’s higher interest and social stability.


In March, economist, academic and prominent activist Naser Bin Ghaith was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for tweets he had published on his personal account. On August 18, 2015, Bin Ghaith was arrested by State Security officers and taken to an unknown location. After being disappeared for eight months, he appeared before the UAE Federal Supreme Court, where he later stated that he had been tortured and detained in solitary confinement since the date of his arrest, but his allegations were ignored by the judge. One of the charges he was convicted for was “committing a hostile act against a foreign state” for having posted tweets criticising the Egyptian authorities for the Raba’a massacre that took place in 2013. Today, Bin Ghaith remains arbitrarily detained for having merely exercised his fundamental right to freedom of expression.


The same month, Ahmed Mansoor, a renowned activist, laureate of the 2015 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and the last human rights defender operating from within the UAE, was arrested without any warrant by State Security officers who raided his home. He was then taken to an unknown location believed to be a detention facility adjacent to the Al Wathba Prison in Abu Dhabi. His family was not allowed to visit him regularly and he was denied access to legal counsel. Ahmed Mansoor has not been charged officially, but the UAE’s official news agency has reported that he was arrested for “cybercrimes” and accused of using social media websites to “publish false information that harms national unity and damages the country’s reputation”.


A few days after his arrest, several UN Special Procedures mandate holders urged the UAE government to immediately release him. The experts said they regarded his arrest and detention “as a direct attack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE” and that his “outstanding work in the protection of human rights and the advancement of democracy, as well as his transparent collaboration with UN mechanisms, [was] of great value not only for the UAE but for the whole region”. The UN experts further urged the Emirati authorities to end the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in the UAE, and to respect the right of everyone to freedom of opinion and expression, including on social media and the internet.

The pressing issue of statelessness

Statelessness remains a problematic issue in the UAE, as it continues to hinder access to basic citizenship rights including civil, political, social and economic rights. This drastically affects the daily lives of stateless individuals as they are denied or only granted limited access to public health care, education, and employment. They also suffer from restrictions on their ability to travel, own property, register births or marriages, among others things.

The issue of statelessness mainly affects three different groups of people. Firstly, stateless long-term residents have been unable to successfully register for citizenship, often due to the lack of official documentation to prove their long-term presence in the UAE. Instead of gradually naturalising these individuals, the authorities have developed a scheme to convert long-standing Emirati residents into holders of passports of convenience from the Union of the Comoros. This policy exacerbates the situation of statelessness by further marginalising stateless individuals, and making them readily deportable.

“Statelessness remains a problematic issue in the UAE, as it continues to hinder access to basic citizenship rights including civil, political, social and economic rights.”

 

Secondly, the UAE’s nationality law discriminates against women, who are unable to pass on their nationality to their children. Children born to Emirati mothers and stateless fathers become stateless themselves, and children born to Emirati mothers and non-Emirati fathers are not automatically entitled to Emirati nationality. Instead, they must wait until they turn 18 when they can undergo a discretionary application to acquire Emirati nationality.


Thirdly, political opponents or peaceful dissidents, who are perceived by the UAE authorities to be a threat to national security, can also be deprived of their citizenship.
Since 2011, the UAE has revoked the citizenship of around 200 people. Individuals are usually called to the Migration Department under the pretext that they must renew their documents, and asked to bring all their official documents, which are subsequently confiscated. This decision cannot be appealed and official records are usually not made available to the individuals affected, who are simply notified that their citizenship has been revoked and that they will be arrested for illegal stay unless they acquire a different nationality.

UN group denounces systematic practice of arbitrary detention

In 2017, upon Alkarama’s request, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued four decisions on individuals imprisoned in the UAE, declaring their detention arbitrary and calling for their immediate release. However, none of the decisions have been implemented by the UAE to date. The WGAD considered that these individuals were either detained without any legal basis, imprisoned because they exercised their fundamental right to freedom of expression, or convicted as a result of a trial which violated international fair trial standards.


The individuals concerned are Mohamad Az, a Syrian citizen who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for administering a Facebook page which commented on the developments of the Syrian war in his hometown; Ahmed Mekkaoui, a Lebanese citizen who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “belonging to a terrorist organisation” based on confessions extracted under torture; Jordanian journalist Taysir Salman, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for a Facebook post criticising the Egyptian and Emirati governments for their lack of support for Palestinians under siege during Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge; and Emirati economist and activist Nasr Bin Ghaith, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tweets which supposedly “endangered national unity”. 


These victims were all prosecuted under the UAE’s ever-restrictive legal arsenal which curbs the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and is made up of the 2012 Cybercrime Law, the 2014 Anti-Terrorism Law and the Penal Code. For example, Taysir Salman was charged with publishing information online with the “intent to ridicule or damage the reputation, prestige or statute of the state”, a crime under article 29 of the Cybercrime Law.


In the Opinions issued, the WGAD repeatedly expressed concern over the UAE’s “past record of arbitrarily imprisoning individuals for their online social networking activities”, highlighting the worrisome trend of prosecuting individuals who peacefully expressed their opinions online.


The Working Group further recalled that a number of cases had been brought to its attention with consistent allegations of incommunicado and/or secret detention of citizens and foreign nationals in the country. The WGAD also commented on the authorities’ lack of respect for international fair trial guarantees, voicing serious concerns over violations such as the denial of legal counsel and the use of torture during interrogations to extract confessions that are later admitted as evidence in court. Furthermore, the WGAD recalled that it had previously found criminal proceedings before the Federal Supreme Court’s State Security Chamber “to be in violation of the right to fair trial guarantees”.


Lastly, the experts reminded the UAE that their international obligations with regards to human rights were applicable under all circumstances, emphasising the fact that “effective counter-terrorism and respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law are complementary and mutually reinforcing”
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