Alkarama expresses its deep concern over reports of raids and arrests carried out by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Palestinian and Arab residents of the country for their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli occupation's killing and genocide in Gaza.
Alkarama's director, lawyer Rachid Mesli, said: "The UAE's practices against those who show solidarity with the Palestinian people are not only a stain on the history of Arab regimes, but also a violation of international human rights law and the country's obligations under it."
Many residents of the UAE, of various Arab nationalities, have been subjected to arrest, torture and heavy fines, with some being deported, all for their 'online solidarity' with the Palestinian cause and Gaza, which has been suffering genocide for ten months.
The UAE announced the normalisation of its relations with Israel in August 2020 on the pretext of halting Israel's annexation of territories in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. But the matter did not stop there. Security agencies under the supervision of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in the UAE have carried out the arrest and deportation of at least dozens of people without any legal basis, purely as a form of repression and punishment for their online solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, according to testimonies reported by media and human rights sources.
Victims' Testimonies
According to testimonies, some detainees, especially those of Palestinian, Egyptian, Tunisian, Moroccan, and Algerian nationalities, were subjected to what resembled abduction, with their mobile phones being searched before they were subjected to investigation and physical and psychological torture in the prisons of "Al Awir," "Al Razeen," "Al Sadr," and "Dubai Central." They were later forced to pay exorbitant fines of up to $250,000 before being deported from the country.
According to testimonies published by Arab media, one Palestinian resident, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, was summoned and interrogated by the state security apparatus simply because he had liked a post by one of his friends on Facebook that depicted part of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The victim said: "I was held in an extremely cramped solitary cell, no larger than one square metre, with bright lights shining constantly on me. The interrogators asked me about Palestinian organisations, cursing them and their leaders with the worst insults, sparing almost no Palestinian group except for one that has links with the state".
He added that after days of interrogation, torture and humiliation, the UAE authorities fined him around a quarter of a million dollars before deporting him from the country.
These repressive practices against the slightest forms of solidarity with the Palestinian people come despite the UAE's public claim to "support the Palestinians, express solidarity and its unwavering commitment to support the residents of Gaza during these difficult times".
It is also noteworthy that while the UAE authorities crack down on and criminalise those who show solidarity with the Palestinian people, they allow pro-UAE tweeters free rein to praise Israel and its policies while attacking, inciting and vilifying Palestinians.
There are an estimated 400,000 Palestinians in the UAE, many of whom have lived there for decades. However, they now live in a state of fear, firmly believing that expressing their opinions will expose them to repression by the UAE authorities and the imposition of severe punishments, according to human rights reports.
UN Warning
Independent UN human rights experts have expressed concern about the global wave of attacks, reprisals and criminalisation against those who publicly express solidarity with the victims of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
In a press release issued earlier, the experts said: “Calls for an end to the violence and attacks in Gaza, or for a humanitarian ceasefire, or criticism of Israeli government’s policies and actions, have in too many contexts been misleadingly equated with support for terrorism or antisemitism.”
The experts' statement noted that journalists and media outlets in Israel and Western countries who report critically on Israeli policies and operations in the occupied territories or express pro-Palestinian views have been targets of threats, intimidation, discrimination, and reprisals, increasing the risk of self-censorship and undermining the diversity and plurality of news that are essential for press freedom and the public’s right to information." This also applies to the policy adopted in the UAE.