ID :
195504
Mon, 07/18/2011 - 08:08
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/195504
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HR groups urge UAE to release political reformists
London, July 18, IRNA – Amnesty International has joined other human rights organisation in calling on the UAE to drop charges against five political activists arrested after they called for democratic reforms.
"The UAE government is using defamation as a pretext to prosecute activists for peacefully expressing their beliefs about the way their country should be run," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
“We consider all five men prisoners of conscience and call on the UAE authorities to release them unconditionally,” Luther said.
The call for their release, also made by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Front Line Defenders and Human Rights Watch, comes as the UAE president and other top officials in Abu Dhabi's Federal Supreme Court re-opens their trial on Monday against the backdrop of a wider clampdown on dissent.
In the UAE, the penal code allows the government to jail people simply for expressing their peaceful views, which Amnesty said was in contravention of clear international human rights guarantees of free speech.
The five men have been detained since April, when the UAE Attorney General announced that they were in 'preventive custody' for 'instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security, undermining the public order, opposing the government system, and insulting the president, the vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
The human rights organizations said they have found no evidence that the men had used or incited violence in the course of their political activities.
"In this day and age, with all that is going on in the region, it is disturbing and absurd that the UAE is prosecuting activists simply because they spoke out for democracy,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“The international community should end its silence and condemn this mockery of justice; the government had no business arresting these men in the first place,” Whitson said.
Andrew Anderson, Deputy Director of Front Line Defenders, said the men should be able to expect that the authorities are there “to protect them from threats and attacks.”
“Instead we have seen the campaign against them intensify without any sign of action by the UAE government,” Anderson said.
As part of a wider clampdown on freedom of expression, the government also disbanded the elected boards of the Jurists Association and the Teachers’ Association after they and two other organizations called for political reforms in April.
“The UAE serves neither its citizens nor its international reputation by seeking to prevent legitimate debate taking place,” said Rawda Ahmed, deputy executive director of ANHRI.
“Rather than try to silence calls for reform, the UAE government would do well to heed them,” Ahmed said./end
"The UAE government is using defamation as a pretext to prosecute activists for peacefully expressing their beliefs about the way their country should be run," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
“We consider all five men prisoners of conscience and call on the UAE authorities to release them unconditionally,” Luther said.
The call for their release, also made by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Front Line Defenders and Human Rights Watch, comes as the UAE president and other top officials in Abu Dhabi's Federal Supreme Court re-opens their trial on Monday against the backdrop of a wider clampdown on dissent.
In the UAE, the penal code allows the government to jail people simply for expressing their peaceful views, which Amnesty said was in contravention of clear international human rights guarantees of free speech.
The five men have been detained since April, when the UAE Attorney General announced that they were in 'preventive custody' for 'instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security, undermining the public order, opposing the government system, and insulting the president, the vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
The human rights organizations said they have found no evidence that the men had used or incited violence in the course of their political activities.
"In this day and age, with all that is going on in the region, it is disturbing and absurd that the UAE is prosecuting activists simply because they spoke out for democracy,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“The international community should end its silence and condemn this mockery of justice; the government had no business arresting these men in the first place,” Whitson said.
Andrew Anderson, Deputy Director of Front Line Defenders, said the men should be able to expect that the authorities are there “to protect them from threats and attacks.”
“Instead we have seen the campaign against them intensify without any sign of action by the UAE government,” Anderson said.
As part of a wider clampdown on freedom of expression, the government also disbanded the elected boards of the Jurists Association and the Teachers’ Association after they and two other organizations called for political reforms in April.
“The UAE serves neither its citizens nor its international reputation by seeking to prevent legitimate debate taking place,” said Rawda Ahmed, deputy executive director of ANHRI.
“Rather than try to silence calls for reform, the UAE government would do well to heed them,” Ahmed said./end
