UN rapporteur calls on UAE to release jailed human rights advocates

A United Nations expert says three human rights advocates serving 10-year prison sentences in the United Arab Emirates are being mistreated in conditions that may amount to torture, calling on authorities in the Persian Gulf country to release them.

“Issuing long-term prison sentences to human rights defenders, in connection to their human rights work, is a practice that cannot continue, and is an issue I will be prioritizing during my mandate” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on Wednesday.

She added that Mohammed al-Roken, Ahmed Mansoor and Nasser bin Ghaith have been criminalized and imprisoned for their "non-violent and legitimate calls for respect for human rights" in the UAE, noting that they have been subjected to "ill-treatment in prison."

Lawlor said, “Reports I have received indicate that the conditions and treatment that these human rights defenders are subjected to, such as prolonged solitary confinement, are in violation of human rights standards and may constitute torture.”

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Roken, prominent for his human rights work, has been imprisoned since 2012 on charges of “plotting against the government.”

He was convicted during a controversial mass trial known as the "UAE 94," during which 94 people were charged with trying to overthrow the Emirati government – a charge they denied.

Last year, the International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE) called on Emirati officials to release Roken and five others that it said should have been released on July 16, 2019. 

In 2013, the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found Roken's detention to be arbitrary and requested his immediate release.

According to Lawlor, the rights advocate has endured intermittent periods in solitary confinement during his imprisonment, purportedly without justification or explanation.

Mansoor has also been held in solitary confinement since his detention in 2017. He was convicted in 2018 on charges of insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols,” including its leaders, and of “seeking to damage the relationship of the UAE with its neighbors by publishing false reports and information on social media.”

“The human rights defender has been serving his 10-year sentence in al-Sadr prison, where he is reportedly confined to a cell measuring four square meters with no mattress, and limited or no access to sunlight, a shower or potable water,” the special rapporteur said.

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Lawlor highlighted that Mansoor's health “has significantly deteriorated” after he went on hunger strike on two occasions to protest his treatment and conditions in prison.

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a damning report that detailed the first public account of Mansoor's closed trial and of his subsequent appeal. 

The UN expert highlighted that Bin Ghaith, arrested in 2015 on charges relating to social media posts criticizing human rights violations and political leaders, has also been reportedly subjected to ill-treatment in al-Sadr prison and then al-Razeen prison.

The WGAD issued an opinion on bin Ghaith's detention, finding it arbitrary and requesting his immediate release.

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