UAE blatantly violating rights of imprisoned activist Ahmed Mansoor: Rights groups

New details about the United Arab Emirates’ persecution of a human rights activist have revealed grave violations of his rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Persian Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) say.

“Damning new details reveal just how cruelly the UAE has been treating Ahmed Mansoor, its most celebrated human rights activist, a man who courageously stood up to his abusive government, demanding it respect human rights when very few would dare,” Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said regarding the 30-page report, which was published on Wednesday.

“The UAE authorities’ railroading of Ahmed Mansoor shows their utter contempt for the rule of law and their determination to intimidate its critics into silence by any means necessary,” Page added.

Mansoor, a 51-year-old Emirati engineer, poet, and father of four, began his activism in the UAE in 2006, campaigning for freedom of expression, civil and political rights in the Arab country.

He successfully campaigned for the release of two Emiratis jailed for comments they made online, and advanced a petition against a draft media law that threatened freedom of expression.

In 2011, Mansoor was subjected to a state-run online smear campaign for signing a petition calling for democratic and economic reforms, and was later arrested and convicted of “insulting the rulers.”

He was arrested again in March 2017 due to his human rights advocacy in the UAE. He was found guilty and handed a prison sentence of 10 years. His final appeal was rejected in December 2018.

Rights groups voice concern over deteriorating health of imprisoned UAE dissident

Rights groups voice serious concern over the deteriorating health condition of detained prominent Emirati pro-democracy activist Ahmed Mansoor.

The Wednesday report documented the UAE State Security Agency’s culpability for the right activist’s abhorrent detention conditions, including indefinite solitary confinement and denial of his basic rights as an inmate.

According to HRW, the report is based on statements obtained from a source with direct knowledge of Mansoor’s court proceedings as well as interviews with two former prisoners who were detained alongside him at different times during his detention in al-Sadr prison.

“Ahmed Mansoor knew he risked prison when he devoted himself to protesting human rights violations in his country and the wider region, yet he still did so with courage and dedication,” said Khalid Ibrahim, the executive director of GCHR. “That is why UAE authorities have punished him so harshly for his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.”

The report said Mansoor has been held in a solitary confinement cell at al-Sadr prison barely the size of a 2 x 2 meter parking spot, and that he sleeps on the floor, being denied a mattress or pillow.

The human rights organizations added that Mansoor embarked on two hunger strikes in 2019 to protest his solitary confinement and demand access to necessities, including blankets and personal hygiene products. The hunger strikes lasted 25 and 49 days respectively.

The report urged the UAE to immediately and unconditionally release Mansoor as well as all human rights defenders, political activists and other dissidents imprisoned solely for exercising their basic human rights, and to hold accountable any officials found responsible for human rights violations.

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Former UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson will not be attending a high-profile literary festival in Dubai in support of a jailed Emirati activist.

The rights organizations also urged the US, Britain, France and Germany to halt proposed weapons sales to the UAE and suspend all future sales until the UAE curtails unlawful airstrikes in Yemen and Libya, halts support for and weapons transfer to abusive local forces, credibly investigates previous alleged violations in both countries and takes concrete and measurable steps to address systematic human rights abuses in the UAE.

The Emiratis have accompanied the Saudis in a military campaign against Yemen, which began in 2015 and has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians in the impoverished country.

In Libya, Abu Dhabi supports military strongman Khalifa Haftar and his rebel forces in their attempts to seize power from the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli.

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