The United Arab Emirates is arbitrarily detaining nearly 60 human rights activists who have already completed prison terms handed down over an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

Most of those detained behind their release date were part of UAE 94 group, a group of 94 lawyers, rights advocates and academics tried in 2013 and whose jail terms in the UAE began expiring in 2019.

The 60 dissidents whose multi-year sentences had all expired since July 2019 were being held due to their status as human rights defenders and because of their efforts “to hold the authorities to account”.