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A United Nations expert on Friday urged the United Arab Emirates government to immediately release five human rights defenders who have been imprisoned in harsh conditions for eight years.
June 11, 2021
A United Nations rapporteur called on the United Arab Emirates Friday to immediately release five human rights campaigners detained since 2013.
Mohamed al-Mansoori, Hassan Mohammed Al-Hammad, Hadif Rashed Abdullah al-Owais, Ali Saeed Al-Kindi and Salim Hamdoon Al-Shahhi were among a group of 94 lawyers, rights advocates and academics accused of plotting to overthrow the Emirati government.
In July 2013, 69 of the defendants in the “UAE-94” case were sentenced, eight of them in absentia, up to 15 years in prison.
The detentions came amid Abu Dhabi’s crackdown on an Islamist association called al-Islah and other activists calling for political reform in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.