Emirates: arbitrary arrest and detention of Naji Hamdan in the Emirates

Mr. Naji Hamdan, aged 43, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States in the 80's, where he obtained American citizenship. He has his own business, and decided  to settle in the United Arab Emirates to pursue commercial interests in 2006, establishing his family in Lebanon.

In 2007, while traveling in the United States for professional reasons, he was placed under close surveillance by the  FBI. He was repeatedly summoned by the federal agency and interrogated about his work and his travels to the Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

In January 2008, while travelling from Dubai to Lebanon, he was arrested at Beirut airport and held for 4 days by Lebanese intelligence services. He was submitted to torture and ill-treatment and was interrogated about his travel and work.

His eldest son Khaled, 16, was also arrested and questioned for several hours about his father. He was shown his father at his place of detention, where he could see the traces of ill-treatment suffered by his father. This particularly shocked Mr. Naji Hamdan. The latter was released after 4 days and later it turned out that the arrest had followed a "foreign request". Mr. Hamdan returned to the United Arab Emirates.

At the beginning of August 2008, FBI agents contacted him by telephone and asked him to come to the Embassy of the United States in Abu Dhabi. He was again questioned at length by two U.S. officials.

Three weeks later, on 29 August 2008, Mr. Hamdan was arrested at his home by UAE intelligence services; he was held incommunicado for three months without the possibility of contact with the outside world, with the exception of a telephone call to his wife, and a visit on 19 October 2008 by the U.S. consul.

On 18 November, a complaint was filed against the U.S. government by the family of the victim, arguing he was arrested and secretly held by UAE authorities on the  orders of the U.S. government.

On 26 November 2008, Mr. Hamdan was transferred to Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi where he is awaiting trial by the Supreme Court responsible for cases of terrorism. The decisions of this court are not subject to appeal and he risks life imprisonment.

On 2 December 2008, he was able to talk on the phone to his brother, who lives in the United States, for the first time. He spoke of being subjected to severe torture by members of the UAE intelligence services.

Specifically, he was held in a cold underground room and regularly beaten, including on the soles of the feet (fallaqa). He was completely deprived of sleep for long periods and threatened with reprisals against members of his family if he did not confirm the charges against him.

During his detention, he was interrogated by an officer, whose face he could not see, who spoke accentless English and repeated the questions previously asked by FBI agents. After 89 days of this inhuman treatment, Mr. Hamdan, in a disastrous physical and psychological state, was forced to sign documents prepared in advance containing false statements.

On 3 December 2008, the U.S. consul visited him a second time in the Al Wathba prison. Mr. Hamdan reported in detail the treatment and torture he suffered.

And on 19 December 2008, Mr. Hamdan informed his family that he had received a visit from a lawyer who was able to consult his file but was not allowed to photocopy anything or take notes. He confirmed that Mr Hamdan had been tortured.

ALKARAMA, which submitted Mr. Hamdan's case to several UN special procedures, wishes to draw the attention of expert mandate-holders to the issue of the outsourcing of torture and serious violations of human rights under the pretext of the fight against terrorism.