Human rights organizations react to the inclusion of four Emirati activists in the “terrorist” list of the country.
Several international legal entities have condemned the UAE’s inclusion of four activists on its “terrorist” list.
Nine international law enforcement agencies have condemned the UAE government’s recent move to add 38 individuals and 15 new entities, including four Emirati activists, to their terrorist list, according to Arab21.
The nine legal entities stressed in a joint statement: “The cabinet’s decision is only to continue the repressive methods of the authorities against Emirati people who exercise their right to freedom of expression in a way that is critical of the authorities.”
The statement added: “The four activists involved in this decision are Hamad al-Shamsi, Ahmad al-Shaybah al-Nuaimi, Muhammad al-Zaabi and Saeed al-Taniji, members of the notorious UAE 94 group, in which most of the defendants are serving up to 10 years in prison.” They have been sentenced, while the four activists and others have been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.
The legal entities also stated that the four Emirati citizens added to the terrorism list are not terrorists, but political activists and human rights defenders who have been targeted as a result of the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression.
According to the statement, Hamad al-Shamsi is the executive director of the UAE Prisoners Support Center, a non-profit organization that seeks to clarify the situation of prisoners of conscience in the UAE. Ahmed al-Nuaimi is an Emirati political opponent and the brother of Khalid al-Shiba al-Nuaimi, another 94 members of the UAE. Mohammad al-Zaabi is a former UAE attorney general and Saeed al-Taniji is a teacher and activist.
The agencies also reported that since all of them were outside the UAE at the time of the mass arrests and subsequent trials, all four were tried and sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.
The nine legal entities are ACAT-France, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Association of Victims of Torture in the United Arab Emirates (AVT-UAE), CIVICUS, the European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR), UAE Prisoners’ Defense (EDAC), Gulf Human Rights Center (GCHR), International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE) and Mina Human Rights Group.
The UAE cabinet last Monday listed 38 people, including an Afghan and a Saudi national, on its “terrorist” list.
The list includes the names of 4 Emirati people, 2 from Lebanon and Iraq, 8 from Yemen, 4 from Syria, 5 from Iran and 6 from Nigeria, and one from St. Kitts and Nevis (a Caribbean island country) and citizens. It is from Britain, Russia, Jordan, India, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.
