Posts Tagged ‘UAE’
January 27, 2014
The United Arab Emirates [UAE] authorities have refused to allow Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, to enter the country on 24 January, 2014, for a planned two-day visit to Dubai. The move followed the country’s forced cancellation on 23 January of a Human Rights Watch news conference to release its annual World Report 2014 in the UAE. Whitson had traveled to the UAE on numerous occasions.“These petty tactics by the UAE authorities to muzzle Human Rights Watch only demonstrate the government’s intolerance of free speech and fear of critical discussion,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director. “Human Rights Watch will continue to document abuses in the UAE and to urge the government to comply with its most basic human rights obligations.” “While UAE newspapers regularly use the work of Human Rights Watch from around the world, it’s a pity the government can’t tolerate any review of its own record,” Roth added.
via UAE: Human Rights Watch Official Refused Entry | Human Rights Watch.
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Dubai, entree refusal, HRW, Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson, UAE, United Arab Emirates, visa denial
March 16, 2013
United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities should guarantee the safety of 94 defendants facing trial on state security charges says Human Rights Watch. They should also establish an independent investigation into the defendants’ allegations of ill-treatment in detention. The second session of their trial begun on 11 March 2013.
At the first trial session on March 4, authorities brought 84 of the 94 accused before the court to enter pleas. The remaining 10 are being tried in absentia. All 84 of the defendants denied the charges, which, local activists say, are largely based on confessions obtained from two of them, apparently while they were detained incommunicado in 2012. One of the two, Ahmed al-Suweidi, told the court he is innocent and asked for its protection. He told the judges: “I know that what Im going to say may cost my life, but I deny the charges and I ask the court to protect my life and the life of my family,” according to witnesses present in the courtroom. Many of the other defendants told the court that they had been seriously ill-treated during months in detention, including prolonged solitary confinement, exposure to continuous fluorescent lighting that made it difficult to sleep, inadequate heating, and hooding when they were taken from their cells, including while being taken to the toilet or for interrogation. They said they had been repeatedly insulted by prison guards. Lawyers acting for the defendants have repeatedly pressed the judicial authorities to investigate these allegations, but they have yet to do so. “This trial raises serious questions about the UAE’s willingness to respect the fundamental right of all accused to receive a fair trial,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The court shouldn’t admit evidence obtained through ill-treatment or coercion. And the UAE government should ensure allegations of ill-treatment of detainees are properly investigated at once.” Authorities prevented a group of international observers and journalists from entering the court on March 4, stating that they had not requested permission from the Ministry of Justice. Security officials also denied entry to the UAE to two international human rights observers who attempted to enter the country to monitor the trial. “The UAE authorities seem intent on keeping this trial as much under wraps as they can,” said Whitson. “If they are interested in ensuring a fair trial, they should allow international observers to attend the court sessions, not block their presence.”
via UAE: Ensure Safety of 94 on Trial | Human Rights Watch.
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ahmed al-Suweidi, Defendant, fair trial, human rights, Human Rights Watch, ill treatment, Middle East, Ministry of Justice, religion, Sarah Leah Whitson, Trial, trial observation, UAE, uae government, United Arab Emirates
February 22, 2013
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) on 16 February 2013 reported that it had received information that authorities in the UAE are targeting family members of human rights defenders (pictured above) currently in detention. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: detention, Emirates, family, GCHR, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, harassment, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harassment, Middle East, Moza Al-Mansoori, Saleh Al-Dhufairi, UAE, United Arab Emirates
January 7, 2013
On 26 October 2012 I referred in this blog to the controversy raised by a Arab blogger about the status of Human Rights Defenders in the Emirates (UAE) who were described as being in fact intolerant islamists. No enlightening comments were received, so I have to concluded that the attack was a politically motivated defense of government policy. That is this policy is far from HRD friendly is brought home again by a recent press release from the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) which claims that the number of human rights defenders and activists in detention has now reached 77 as the crackdown continues.
On 14 December 2012 an Egyptian journalist was arrested and three Egyptian doctors were arrested four days later (reportedly bringing the total number of Egyptian activists in detention in the UAE to 11).
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights GCHR has issued previous appeals concerning the deteriorating situation in the UAE (http://gc4hr.org/news/index/country/2). It is reported that approximately 200 people who are supporters or relatives of human rights defenders and activists are being prohibited from travelling. For many of them it is only when they have attempted to leave the UAE, often having purchased tickets in advance, that they are informed of this restriction on their freedom of movement.
It is feared that more interrogations and arrest will take place in the near future.Some of the detained human rights defenders have had their detention extended, including prominent human rights lawyers Dr. Mohamed Al-Mansoori and Dr. Mohamed Al-Roken, who had their detention extended on 2 January 2013. It is reported that these extensions are granted as officials have, to date, failed to gather evidence to prosecute those detained. The GCHR call for urgent action, see:
Urgent Action: UAE- Number of human rights defenders & activists in detention reaches 77 as brutal crackdown continues.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: crackdown, Emirates, GCHR, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Mohamed Al-Mansoori, Mohamed Al-Roken, UAE
November 17, 2012
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The United Arab Emirates should swiftly end the arbitrary detention and harassment of its critics in line with its obligations as a recently elected member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, say a number of NGOs In an open letter to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Al Nahyan, Human Rights Watch, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and the West African Human Rights Defenders Network urge the UAE to make reforms in the following key areas.
- Cease arbitrary detentions and respect the right to fair trial
- Respect the right to freedom of expression and opinion
- End the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in detention
- Implement key recommendations of treaty bodies
- Respect the fundamental rights of migrant workers and stateless.
The UAE secured its position on the Human Rights Council on November 12, 2012, after standing unopposed for one of the five vacant seats reserved for Asian states. The UAE’s election to the council coincides with a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation domestically, which led to the European Parliament expressing “great concern” in a resolution adopted on October 26. “Now that the UAE has been elected to the Human Rights Council, it’s high time for real improvements in the human rights situation in the country,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The UAE should mark its election by ending arbitrary detention of 63 political detainees and taking steps to protect the rights of migrant workers.”
Indeed it is good that the NGOs remind the UAE’s rulers that a commitment to human rights entails a commitment to take concrete steps, legislative and otherwise, to uphold the principles and standards of human rights law. These steps should clearly be more than the donations recently made (reported on 16 November) to the United Nations including:
– $10,000 for the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture;
– $30,000 for the United Nations Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of slavery; and….
– $50,000 for the Trust Fund to Support the Activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights!
Posted in human rights, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Emirates, HRW, human rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sarah Leah Whitson, UAE, United Arab Emirates, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
November 10, 2012
In a letter to the editor of the Guardian of 8 November 2012, Andrew Lovatt puts the question very clearly:
Countries that sell arms to states that have repeatedly violated the human rights of their people should receive universal condemnation from their own citizens for the role they play in furthering the misery and bloodshed around the globe, and Britain’s sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and the UAE should be no exception. Human Rights Watch has reported numerous human rights abuses conducted by both states, which have included the assault and intimidation of nonviolent human rights defenders, political activists and civil society actors in an attempt to suppress freedom of expression and protect the regimes from democratic change.
Britain’s long-standing international support for democracy and human rights has already been undermined by the sale of 72 Typhoons to Saudi Arabia. Should Britain prop up these oppressive states further by putting an extra £6bn worth of military hardware into their hands, its position will rightly be viewed as hypocritical by the rest of the world.
Andrew Lovatt
Market Drayton, Shropshire
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arms sales, Britain, Foreign Policy, Guardian, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, UAE, United Arab Emirates
October 26, 2012
An Arab blogger, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, posted on 25 October a relevant article in AL-Monitor. It poses the always tricky question of the ‘definition’ of a Human Rights Defender, but even more the valid question of human rights policy. Why would the international community put priority or energy into defending those whose human rights credentials are below par? Not speaking Arabic myself, I cannot refute the many examples given by the author. Anybody who can is welcome to enlighten us. In the meantime it is not more than fair to put on record the detailed accusations in the long article, including writings and tweets by Hassan Al Diqqi. Why the author does not give similar examples from other islamists is a good question. Also there is the weakness that the article does not give examples of those activists in the UAE that the author would consider real human Rights defenders, which makes the article look like a apology for the UAE’s govenrment. I just have to mention the cases of Ahmed Mansoor, blogger and member of ANHRI’s (Arab Network for Human Rights Information); Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist, university lecturer and advocate of political reform; and three online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis, which featured in my blog on 18 July.
The article itself has some strong language:
“For almost two years, the UAE’s political Islamists have been referred to in the West as human rights activists. No doubt, they are indeed activists with an agenda but there is also no doubt that they are not our version of Nelson Mandela, nor is their vision for the country that of the Magna Carta. I have been following their rhetoric — in Arabic — over the past few months on social media with great concern. I have found it to be xenophobic; anti-Semitic; sectarian; exclusionary; racist toward Asians, Africans and other Arabs and overall repugnant.
Nothing exposes the ignorance of non-Arabic-speaking writers than when they comment on the current events in the UAE without taking the time to read what is written. Referring to the political Islamists as “human rights defenders” is an insult to human rights activists all over the world and the equivalent of calling Greece’s Golden Dawn, Holland’s Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders or Hungary’s Jobbik Party as human rights platforms. If outsiders want to champion the UAE’s political Islamists, they should at the very least refer to them as they truly are: right-wing, exclusionary political movements. Vote for Geert Wilders if you like, just don’t call him a human rights defender.“
see full piece: UAE Political Islamists Are Not Human Rights Defenders – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Al-Monitor, definition, Emirates, HRDs, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, UAE, United Arab Emirates
October 7, 2012
On 2 October 2012 the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHR) published its overview of the last session of the UN Human Rights Council. It concludes that many Arab governments have started a kind of ‘counter-revolution’ by harassing human rights defenders, especially those that engage with the UN:
“Reflecting the ‘counter-revolutionary’ repression we have witnessed being carried out by many Arab governments against democracy and rights activists over the last year and a half, this session of the Council witnessed multiple human rights defenders from Sudan, the United Arab Emirates UAE and Bahrain subjected to attacks by their governments or government-affiliated actors for engaging with the United Nations,” said Mr. Ziad Abdel Tawab, Deputy Director of CIHRS. “We urgently call on the UN and its member states to increase efforts to provide protection for these brave defenders and others like them. Such reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN not only constitute rights violations, but also represent an attack on the UN itself and its ability to function properly.”
via ‘Counter-Revolution’ at the United Nations Human Rights Council? Arab states respond to unprecedented scrutiny with attacks on rights defenders and standards | Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab region, Bahrain, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, Geneva, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, Sudan, UAE, UN, UPR
July 18, 2011
Today, Monday 18 July, the trial against five pro-democratic activists re-opens in Abu Dhabi’s Federal Supreme Court. The five activists are Ahmed Mansoor, an engineer, blogger and member of Human Rights Watch Middle East advisory committee and ANHRI’s (Arab Network for Human Rights Information); Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist, university lecturer and advocate of political reform; and three online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis. They are all accused of “publicly insulting” the UAE president and other top officials (as Article 176 of the UAE Penal Code makes it a crime to publicly insult the country’s top officials, its flag or national emblem; offenders can be sentenced to five years imprisonment). The UAE government is obviously using defamation as a pretext to prosecute activists for peacefully expressing their opinions.
The four NGOs are: Amnesty International, ANHRI, Front Line and Human Rights Watch. They have called jointly on UAE authorities to release immediately the five activists and drop all charges against them.
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, Front Line, HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abu Dhabi, ANRI, defamation, Emirates, UAE
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 