Human Rights Defender

Muhammad Al-Roken, born in 1962, is an Emirati lawyer working in the field of human rights, and he is a professor of international law. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D in constitutional law from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Dr. Al-Roken is a member of the International Bar Association, the former president of the UAE Jurists Association, and a founding member of the “Gulf Dam” organization. In addition, he was a professor of constitutional law at the United Arab Emirates University and author of numerous books and articles in the field of human rights. He was a former advisor to the government on legal matters.
In 2012, Al-Roken was awarded Alkarama Award for Human Rights, and he also received many awards in his field.  
In 2011, Dr. Al-Roken was involved in the Third of March petition, sent to the President of the UAE demanding the right to vote and to give legislative power to Parliament. Also, he was defending many activists and others who sufferd human rights violations, such as the “UAE 5” group.
Due to his human rights activities, Al-Roken became a target of harassment and intimidation by the UAE government, which put him under official surveillance for years. Then, he was arrested and subjected to enforced disappearance, his passport was confiscated, and he was banned from traveling. He was also prohibited from giving public lectures at the university and from writing for the national newspapers.

His apprehension and trial:
On July 17, 2012, the UAE security forces arrested Al-Roken, a prominant human rights defender, neae to his house on his way to the police station to report his son’s disappearance. Al-Roken remained subjected to enforced disappearance in an unknown place for eight months.
During detention, many international reports stated that Dr. Al-Roken was subjected to various forms of torture and degrading treatment. He was placed in solitary confinement without a bed or his personal belongings. Plus, he was denied his right to legal representation.
On July 2, 2013, the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi sentenced 56 people, including Al-Roken, to 10 years imprisonment with additional 3 years of probation. He was brought before court as a member of the “UAE 94” group.
It was reported that in November 2015, Dr. Al-Roken was subjected to torture in Al-Razeen prison using loudspeakers a very loud music that led him to become unconscious. Although there are alarm bells cameras in each cell, the guard did nothing. Then, doctors found out that he had high blood pressure and severe ear infections caused by the noise of the loudspeakers. After that, he was placed in solitary confinement with no visits. 
Several human rights defenders and friends of Al-Roken, lawyers and activists, denounced this unfair arrest and trial, considering that him their guide in the field in the UAE as he strongly believed in human rights, democracy and a free society. Although he knew he is watched by the state security men, he never hesitated to continue his journey in the field to help those who needed his voice and free speech.
Al-Roken’s trial lacked all the standards of a fair trial, which are guaranteed by the international standards. The UAE authorities extracted confessions from him and other prisoners of conscience under torture and intimidation. Also, he was put in solitary confinement with no visits or legal meetings. 
A number of human rights organizations saw the arrest and trial of Al-Roken as a major loss in the field of human rights, due to his dedication and sincerity in serving human rights issues and following up on the human rights file in the UAE.

Academic and an economist

Dr. Nasser Al-Meri, an academic and economist, is known for his high educational sophistication, which made him one of the most well-known academic in the UAE.
Al-Meri got his BA in law in 1995 from the Dubai Police Academy, his a master’s degree in commercial law from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, USA in 2002, and his Ph.D in economic groupings from the University of Essex in the UK.  This specialization is new in this field.
Dr. Al-Meri is one of the most well-known economists in the Arab world, as he worked as a lecturer at the Sorbonne University, France, Abu Dhabi branch. He is the first Emirati in history to be a lecturer there, which indicates how highly qualified he is. That makes him a professional and a pioneer in his sepcializiation, which is the economic groupings, due to the scarcity of this specialty. It combines combines four disciplines: law, economics, foreign policy and international relations.
Bin Ghaith represented many achievements in the economic and financial fields and was one of the first economists to predict the occurrence of the economic crisis in 2008, warning of its occurrence in many of his writings in 2007 and indicating it beginning in 2006.

His apprehension and trial:
In April 2011, Al-Meri was arrested for the first time on probable case No. 313/2011, among the members of the group known as “UAE 5.” They are five activists who were imprisoned for insulting the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi during their participation in a forum, before they were released with a presidential pardon.
On August 18, 2015, Al-Meri was arrested for the second time, when security forces in plainclothes arrested him from his workplace in Abu Dhabi without charge. They took him to his home to search it, confiscate his personal belongings, and take him to an unknown place.
Dr. Al-Meri was subjected to torture, beatings, and sleep deprivation for a week. Neither he nor his family were informed why he was arrested. However, it was clear later that it was over a tweet about human rights violations by the Egyptian authorities and for his criticism of the politicization of the judiciary in the UAE.
On April 4, 2016, Al-Meri was brought before the State Security Department of the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi in the “Emirati Nation Party” case. He was then brought before the Court of Appeal, in which an Egyptian judge ran the trial.
The court has charged Al-Meri with a wide range of charges, including: 
Insulting the UAE and harming public security and national unity,
– Spreading false information to insult the UAE and tarnish its reputation,
– Communicating and cooperating with members of the banned Eslah society that carries out activities, violating the ruling system in the UAE,
– Committing a hostile act against a foreign country in tweets referring to the mass killing of protesters in Rab’a Square by the Egyptian security forces in 2013,
– Meeting with peaceful political activists in Turkey.
These charges are related to the anti-terrorism law if the meetings are with exiled UAE activists in Turkey.
On March 29, 2017, the court sentenced Al-Meri to 10 years imprisonment in accordance with the cybercrimes act and the anti-terrorism law for 2014.

Human Rights Defender

Ahmed Mansour is an engineer who was born in 1969 in Ras al Khaimah. He is a father to four kids. Mansour is one of the most prominent human rights defender, as in 2015, he won the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. He won the prize in honor of his continued work in human rights despite the campaign of repression against them and other activists in UAE. Mansour is among the few voices who used to integriously document the developments in the filed of human rights in UAE.

Ahmed was known as a human rights defender, especially defending the freedom of expression. During 2006 and 2007, he launched a campaign of support for a website owner, who was arrested with his colleague over social critical comments. The campaign succeeded as both of them were released and the charges were dropped.

Mansour is one of the initiators of the third of March petition, which called for a democratic reform in the UAE. Later, he was imprisoned along with four others over a discussion that took place on an electronic forum, in a case that later became known as “UAE 5”. He was accused of breaking the law of defamation by insulting the heads of the state, was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, and then was released by a presidential pardon. The authorities have refrained to issue a passport for him and banned him from traveling since he was imprisoned in 2011.

His apprehension and trial:

At midnight on March 20, 2017, members of the UAE security forces stormed the house of Ahmed Mansoor in Ajman, and arrested him on orders from the Public Prosecution of Information Technology. According to sources, Ahmed was brought before the Public Prosecution Information Technology to investigate his use of social media to “spread false information and rumors that promote sectarianism, discord, hatred, harm national unity, peace, social life, and the reputation and status of the state, and incite others not to abide by the laws of the state.” It is also said that he was arrested over signing a letter with other activists in the region, addressing the Arab leaders who met in Jordan at the Arab summit, and calling for the release of all prisoners of conscience in the Middle East.

After having him arrested, the UAE security forces stormed his house and confiscated many of his properties, including all computers and electronic devices, some of which belong to his sons. Since then, he was kept detained in an unknown place for a year without having any contact with the outside world. That means he was subjected to the crime of enforced disappearance.

A year later, on May 29, 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment over tweets criticizing the UAE government’s human rights violations and a fine of one million dirhams—about 233,000 euros. Along with that, he was subjected to surveillance for three years, starting after his release. Mansour was convicted of breaking the laws of defamation “insulting the prestige, heads, and leaders of the UAE” and “seeking to harm the UAE’s relationship with its neighboring countries by spreading misleading reports and false information on social media.”

The trial was completely private as media, diplomats, and other outside observers were not allowed to attend. The charges brought against him violate his right to freedom of expression under international law. On December 31, 2018, the Federal Supreme Court upheld his conviction.

On 17 March 2019, Ahmed went on a hunger strike as an act of protest against poor prison conditions and an unfair conviction of his human rights activities. Since then, his health and eyesight have significantly deteriorated while being held in an isolated ward at Al Sadr Prison in Abu Dhabi. In his cell, he has no bed to sleep on nor water to drink. He is deprived of family visits and his guaranteed rights and privileges that other prisoners enjoy. Also, he is not allowed to walk outside or participate in sports.

Considering the danger threatening his life, several human rights voices, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, called for his release. Both the European Parliament and the United Nations special rapporteurs called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ahmed.