End the arbitrary imprisonment of prominent rights defender Ahmed Mansoor

AhmedMansoor received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015.

Threemonths ago today, in the pre-dawn hours of 20 March about a dozen securityofficers arrested Ahmed Mansoor at his home in Ajman, about 150 kilometres northeastof Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

“We urgethe UAE government to end the incomprehensible three-month imprisonment ofAhmed Mansoor. This is really about the UAE failing to respect basic principlesof justice” said Dick Oosting, Chairperson of the MEA Board.

“Thepurported case against Ahmed Mansoor beggars belief. States have the duty tobring to justice those whom they suspect of having committed criminal offenses.Yet what is clear is that the UAE authorities have arbitrarily deprived him ofliberty and taken him away from his family for peacefully exercising his human rightto freedom of expression. The three-month lapse and total lack of transparency indicates,likewise, that the authorities merely wanted to silence him”.

On 20March, the UAE authorities stated that Ahmed Mansoor was accused of usingsocial media websites, including to “publish false and misleading informationthat harm national unity and social harmony and damage the country’s reputation,”under the UAE’s repressive 2012 Cybercrime Law, which authorities have used toimprison numerous human rights activists and which provides for long prisonsentences and severe financial penalties.

On 28March, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on the UAEgovernment to release him immediately, describing his arrest as “a directattack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE.” They expressedtheir fear that his arrest “may constitute an act of reprisal for hisengagement with UN human rights mechanisms, for the views he expressed onsocial media, including Twitter, as well as for being an active member oforganizations such as the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and an active supporterof others, including Human Rights Watch.”

The nextday, the UAE authorities responded directly to the statement, disputing theallegation that Ahmed Mansoor’s detention was arbitrary, and stating that he“has the freedom to hire a lawyer and that his family has full access to theplace of confinement and is allowed to visit him.”

The government has detainedAhmed Mansoor in Abu Dhabi. It is toofar from his home for regular visits from his family, who have only been ableto see him once in the last three months. The authorities appear determined toisolate Ahmed Mansoor from his own family.

Despite governmentassertions that he is able to do so, it appears that he has not been able toappoint an independent lawyer of his own choosing. This is a necessarycomponent of the right to a fair trial.

The right to see a lawyeris a basic right of anyone detained as outlined in article 16 of the ArabCharter on Human Rights, which the UAE has ratified.

The tenhuman rights organizations that make up the jury of the Martin Ennals Award forHuman Rights Defenders reiterate their call to the UAE authorities to releaseAhmed Mansoor immediately and unconditionally, since the charges against himrelate solely to his human rights work and his right to freedom of expression. Inthe meantime, he should be granted immediate and regular access to his familyand a lawyer of his choosing. The UAE must end their harassment of human rightsdefenders and critics of the authorities.

SIGNATORIES

Organizations forming thejury of the Martin Ennals Award:

Agency for Diakonia and Development, Germany

Amnesty International

FIDH

Front Line Defenders

Human Rights First

Human Rights Watch

International Commissionof Jurists

International Service forHuman Rights

HURIDOCS

World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT)