United Arab Emirates: The UN Working Group condemns the detention of Mr. Abdullah Al-Alili

Alkarama had seized on February 19, 2007 the WGAD and the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression requesting an urgent action in the wake of the arrest and secret detention of Mr. Sabihat Abdullah Sultan Al-Alili.

Mr. Al Allili, resident of Ajman in the UAE, was arrested on February 15, 2007 at his home without judicial warrant by the State Security (Amn Al dawla). During his arrest, his home was searched and his personal documentation and its library were confiscated.

Mr. Al Alili, then aged 46, agricultural engineer, is an official at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Emirate of Ajman. He had already been arrested without judicial warrant on August 8, 2005 and interrogated because of his political opinions.

He was released on October 25, 2005, after 78 days of detention without charge and without ever having been the subject of judicial proceedings. Before his release, he refused to give his commitment to cease all political activity and to refrain from criticizing government policies, considering his freedom of expression as an inalienable right.

During his second arrest on February 15, 2007, he has not been presented to prosecutors within 48 hours as prescribed by the law. He was held incommunicado for several months and was forced to sign a hearing minutes document containing confession extorted under torture. It was only until May 28, 2007 that he was first presented before a magistrate.

On 25 June 2007 he was brought before the Supreme Court. The hearings were held behind closed doors, without the presence of his family nor observers or defenders of human rights. Security officers attended the trial. The only witness heard by the Court was his torturer, an officer of the same service that had conducted the investigations.

Mr. Al-Alili nevertheless refuted the accusations against him. Accused of "obtaining secret information concerning state security", the Supreme Court sentenced him on 1 October 2007 to three years' imprisonment and ordered his dismissal from his work. This verdict is final, as decisions of the Supreme Court are not appealable in violation of the principle of the double level of jurisdiction.

During his trial, which was marked by numerous irregularities, M. Al-Allili reported to the judges the conditions of his incommunicado detention for 102 days without his family given access to any information about him and torture he endured. Mr. Al-Alili had sent a letter to the President of the Supreme Court in which he informed him of torture and inhuman treatment he had incurred during this detention : beatings, sleep deprivation, isolation for a month, forced to remain standing throughout the day for two weeks, forced to wear a chair on his head in the day for a week, forced prescription of drugs against high blood pressure and insomnia, threats of sexual harassment and arrest of its wife, and so on.

Contrary to the assertions of UAE authorities, the trial of Mr. Al-Alili was not fair. He did not have the opportunity to meet with his lawyer and the latter was unable to plead. He has only been allowed to submit written submissions to the court. The trial court failed to consider the complaint of torture that Mr. Al-Alili filed. However, confessions obtained under torture were used to condemn him.

The WGAD therefore considered that the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Al-Alili violated Articles 9 (right not to be arbitrarily arrested and detained), 10 (right to be tried publicly and fairly by an independent and impartial tribunal) 11 (presumption of innocence and right to defence) and 19 ( freedom of expression) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The UAE is one of the few Arab countries that are not party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture. The WGAD did not fail, while rending its opinion on this case, to recommend to the UAE government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The situation of human rights in the UAE will be discussed at the December 2008 session of Human Rights Council, under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. On this occasion, Alkarama will be submit a report dedicated to human rights situation in the UAE.