HRW Highlights UAE Government Crackdown on Activists

On Saturday, UAE authorities dissolved the board of directors of a the Jurist Association, a prominent civil society organization in the country and replaced its members with state appointees.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the action is part of a broader crackdown on peaceful dissent by the government. Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW  stated that “UAE authorities have staged a hostile takeover of one of the country’s leading rights groups. The government is reacting to domestic criticisms by banning websites, detaining peaceful activists, and intensifying its chokehold on civil society.”

HRW also called on the UAE government to release Ahmed Mansour and four other activists who have been detained for ”instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose 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,” according to UAE Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish.  HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson stated, “This shows how far the UAE has to go to become a rights-respecting country. All those being detained for speaking out against abuses should be immediately released.”