UN rights expert calls for release of UAE activist News
UN rights expert calls for release of UAE activist

Several UN rights experts called [press release] Tuesday for the release of prominent human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, who was arrested at his home on March 20 by United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities. An arrest warrant was not issued and his current whereabouts are unknown, making human rights experts fear he may be in danger of harsh treatment and torture. UN rights experts believe his detention is in response to his work with rights organizations and activism on social media. The reported charges against him include [HRW press release], “suspicion of using social media sites to publish ‘flawed information’ and ‘false news’ to ‘incite sectarian strife and hatred’ and ‘harm the reputation of the state,'” arising under the UAE’s cybercrime decree [text]. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] criticized UAE authorities for arbitrarily detaining Mansoor in violation of Article 14 of the Arab Charter for Human Rights [text], which grants Mansoor the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] also spoke out [press release] against Mansoor’s arrest and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

Mansoor’s detention follows a chain of events concerning the treatment of human rights activists in 2017. Also in March Alexei Navalny, a well-known Russian opposition leader, was arrested at a demonstration [JURIST report] protesting the alleged corruption of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and was fined 20,000 rubles for organizing the protest. In February human rights groups urged the Thai Army to drop defamation charges [JURIST report] against three activists, including the Chair of Amnesty International Thailand, the founder of an advocacy group in Thailand and a human rights lawyer. In January HRW called for the immediate release of two human rights activists [JURIST report] arrested in Saudi Arabia if authorities could not charge them with any recognizable crime.