On 11 March 2025, Alkarama submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) the case of Mr. Abdullah Ali Abdulhafidh ABDELWAHAB, a Yemeni businessman who was arbitrarily arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and sentenced to 15 years in prison merely for posts on Facebook.
Regularly traveling to Dubai for business, Mr. ABDELWAHAB was arrested on 19 October 2022, in Sharjah by State Security agents without any arrest warrant or explanation. His family was only informed of his detention at Abu Dhabi’s Al Sadr federal prison two weeks later through a brief phone call. Since then, he has received no legal assistance, and his contact with the outside world has been strictly controlled.
According to the testimony of a former fellow detainee, he was sentenced solely for publishing Facebook posts criticizing UAE airstrikes in Yemen in 2019. Despite the fact that his posts were non-violent and could in no way constitute a criminal offense, Mr. ABDELWAHAB was severely punished merely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
In recent years, many individuals have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in the UAE simply for expressing themselves on social media. This repression is based on a restrictive legal framework, including the cybercrime law, which punishes any criticism deemed harmful to the state or its image.
Deprived of visits and subjected to harsh detention conditions, Mr. ABDELWAHAB began a hunger strike in early March to protest his unjust incarceration and sentencing.
Confronted with this situation, his family turned to Alkarama for assistance in bringing his case before the United Nations.
Considering that his arrest and detention have no legal basis and that he was sentenced solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression without access to a lawyer, Alkarama has submitted his case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and calls for his immediate release.