12 October 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HARASSED
IFEX members have called attention to what appears to be a campaign by United Arab Emirates authorities to harass and silence human rights activists in the past few months
Since June 2006, security officials and the judiciary have targeted several prominent activists, including Muhammad al-Mansoori, president of the independent Jurists Association (JA), and Muhammad al-Roken, another prominent lawyer and a former president of the JA, reports Human Rights Watch.
In June, the Federal High Court issued an arrest warrant for al-Mansoori, which accused him of allegedly "insulting the public prosecutor." According to Al-Mansoori, these charges stemmed from his public interviews and advocacy promoting human rights.
In July, security agents detained al-Roken for 24 hours. They detained him again in August for three days. According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo), al-Roken was detained for criticising the country's justice system in an interview with Al-Jazeera. Security officials confiscated his passport and barred him from leaving the country.
HRInfo, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) have joined 30 other human rights groups in condemning the harassment of al-Mansoori and al-Roken.
Human rights activists are routinely barred from expressing their opinions in the UAE, says Human Rights Watch. For the past five years, authorities have barred twelve prominent UAE commentators and academics from disseminating their views in programmes broadcast by Abu Dhabi Television.
The government also actively discourages the formation of non-governmental organisations. Al-Roken and other lawyers and activists are still waiting to receive a reply from the Ministry of Social Welfare more than two years after they filed an application to form the Emirates Human Rights Society in July 2004.
A separate application filed in April 2005 by a group led by human rights activist Khalifa Bakhit al-Falasi has also been ignored. Under UAE Law, replies to such applications should be sent within 30 days of their filing.
Visit these links:
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/05/uae14328.htm
- Backgrounder on UAE: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/uae12233.htm
- CIHRS: http://www.cihrs.org/top_details_en.aspx
- HRInfo: http://www.hrinfo.net
- EOHR: http://www.eohr.org
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