On the evening of July 10, 2024, UAE’s state media issued information on one of its most controversial mass trials ever. Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court in the UAE handed over life sentences to 43 Emiratis for links to “terrorism,” said the state media at the end of the trial heavily criticised by human rights groups and political activists.
While six defendants were companies, 43 were given life sentences, five more were given 15-year sentences, and another five, had 10-year sentences. The trial is widely believed by many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, to be unfair, while Amnesty International has termed the trial as, “a sham mass trial violating fundamental legal principles and a shameless parody of justice.”
The court, however, has sentenced the defendants on charges of, “cheating, establishing and managing a terrorist organisation.”
The details of the trial
Let alone being called out, the new trial and the final verdict have gone largely unreported. The missing public scrutiny in the case has contributed to the international community’s silence ever since the trial began concerning 84 of the UAE’s civil society members. The current trial traces its origins to 2013 when “UAE94” mass trial of 94 political dissidents began. Government critics and human rights activists were among those when the trial started in 2013.
Out of these, 84 defendants were brought before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court this year. Most of them had already served jail sentences. Several social media accounts of Emirati human rights defenders allege that the authorities brought new charges to ensure the dissidents stay behind bars indefinitely.
While the UAE has not named the 84 defendants, as per the UK-based watchdog Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, more than 70 of the defendants had already been imprisoned. HRW’s UAE researcher Joy Shea called the verdict, “another nail in the coffin for the UAE’s nascent civil society,” adding, “The latest verdict makes a mockery of justice. This is the second largest unfair mass trial of political dissidents and human rights defenders in the UAE’s history and the international community is failing to flag any concern. Emirati authorities have long used their country’s economic and security relationships to prevent criticism of its rights record, but rarely, if ever, has the silence from its allies been so deafening.”
She also says that among those sentenced to life in prison is Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith, reportedly held since August 2015 over social media posts. Renowned human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor (held since 2017) is among those convicted.
Ben Saul, U.N’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, flagged concerns about the trial during an expert panel hosted by the Geneva Press Club in March this year. “The latest charges relate to the same conduct for which many of these defendants were tried the first time around a decade ago.” He called the trial, “a deeply regressive step and a terrible example of the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society.”
Inside UAE’s crackdown on dissent
The UAE, a federation of seven monarchies, not only discourages but prohibits and punishes criticism of its rulers and any speech or social media posts that are deemed to create unrest.
In the past few decades, the United Arab Emirates has become a key security ally for many governments, fostered economic ties and developed diplomatic clout on several international forums. This is one of the major reasons that the country’s continuing crackdown on political dissidents and civil society members has largely been accepted by other nations. The Emirati government announced the mass trial in December 2023, at the time of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, thus overshadowing the news with enough significant distractions and international news.
A few media reports pointed out that Emirati authorities had, “restricted access to case material and information, shrouded the hearings in secrecy and violated the principle of double jeopardy (an international legal rule where people cannot be tried twice for the same offence after receiving a final verdict). Wealthy diplomatic allies such as the United States, Britain and the European Union have not issued statements about the mass trial in an official capacity.
The UAE denies any unfairness
However, the UAE authorities have denied all the allegations and say the latest charges have been “materially distinct” from those brought in 2013 and the earlier charges did not include funding a terrorist organisation. The defendants can still appeal the verdicts before the Federal Supreme Court.
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