The decision by a United Arab Emirates court to sentence a Jordanian resident to 10 years in prison in October for criticising Jordan’s government was based entirely on a series of peaceful Facebook posts, a rights group has said.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged authorities in the UAE to immediately release 46-year-old Ahmed Etoum, saying he was convicted solely for his “peaceful criticism of the Jordanian royal family and government”.
In a statement on Thursday, the US-based rights group said the court convicted him in October 2020 of using Facebook to commit “acts against a foreign state” that could “damage political relations” with that state and “endanger national security” inside the UAE.