On Tuesday 12 July 2022, Alkarama participated in the NGO briefing held at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva ahead of the initial review of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) during its 74th session to be held from 13 July to 14 July 2022.
On 22 June 2022, Alkarama urgently addressed the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture regarding the imminent forced return to Syria of Syrian citizen Amjad Mohammad Nour Aldeen Al Nasser, a truck driver arrested on 26 April 2022 at around 10 am on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai by members of the Emirati intelligence services in civilian clothes while in his truck.
The UAE authorities do not only repress and detain activists and political opponents for many years and impose harsh penalties on them after unfair trials. They also seek revenge on their families and harm to the relatives of victims as a further means of suppressing and silencing dissenting voices. These practices are exemplified in the case of an Emirati prisoner of conscience, Abd al-Salam Darwish al-Marzouqi.
The family of UAE activist Abd al-Salam Darwish al-Marzouqi is in mourning after the death of his son Salman, whose health had deteriorated severely in the absence of his father, currently serving a ten-year sentence, nine of which were spent in Al Razeen prison. Abd al-Salam Darwish al-Marzouqi is detained following his conviction in the famous “UAE 94” trial in reprisal for having exercised his rights to freedom of expression and opinion.
A first batch of Yemeni Guantanamo detainees held in the UAE has arrived in Hadramot, including six of the 18 detainees hosted by the UAE government which has failed to honour its commitments to them.
The UAE's return of Yemeni Guantanamo detainees comes after a very difficult journey that lasted about 20 years, following extensive media and human rights campaigns.
Alkarama shares the grief of the family of Emirati prisoner of conscience Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Al-Siddiq and the human rights family in the death of human rights activist Alaa Al-Siddiq, who died following a traffic accident in Oxford, UK.
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, has called on the UAE to immediately release five human rights defenders imprisoned since 2013, referring to allegations of torture, ill-treatment and unfair trials.
A former Yemeni detainee of the Emirati secret prisons in Yemen has revealed that he was subjected to psychological and physical torture at the hands of Emirati investigators, while being held in a secret prison in the Balhaf oil complex. This complex is managed by the French company Total, in the Yemeni province of Shabwa.
On 15 April 2021, Alkarama submitted its report to the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) concerning several cases of reprisals in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Under resolution 12/2 the UN Secretary-General submits an annual report to the Human Rights Council compiling information received on acts of reprisals for cooperation with the UN in the field of human rights. This report brings to light the situation in countries where cooperation with the UN triggers systematic measures of reprisals and intimidations.
Alkarama expresses its grave concern at reports of the deteriorating state of health of Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who has been detained for nearly four years in very poor conditions. The Emirati authorities are being held responsible for his life and his physical and moral integrity.
