Qatar: Release unfairly imprisoned poet Mohammed al-‘Ajami 25 February 2016 London and Washington, DC – On the third anniversary of the unfair 15 year prison sentence handed down to the Qatari poet, Mohammed al-‘Ajami, the human rights bodies Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), Amnesty International, English PEN, Freedom Now, PEN[…]
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On 8 February 2016, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it would be forming new ministries of “happiness” and “tolerance.” While the UAE is not the first country to establish such positions—commentators note that the move is reminiscent of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index, installed in 1972, as well as other more recent trends—it remains[…]
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24 February 2016 – Bahrain’s fourth criminal court today sentenced leading opposition leader Ebrahim Sharif to one year in prison for allegedly “inciting hatred against the regime”. We, the undersigned NGOs, strongly condemn the sentencing of Ebrahim Sharif today, which represents yet another example of Bahrain’s criminalization of free speech. We call for Sharif’s unconditional[…]
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Mosaab Abd al-Aziz, the son of a former advisor to Egypt’s deposed president Muhammad Morsi, has sent a taped message to his family alleging that UAE authorities tortured him in order to coerce him into confessing membership in the Muslim Brotherhood. UAE police arrested Abd al-Aziz in October 2014 and they have held him in[…]
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A panel of UN experts has called for the release of several Libyan nationals currently on trial in the UAE, including Mohamed al-Darat, Kamal al-Darat, and Salim al-Aradi. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention has confirmed that the men are being held arbitrarily, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has cited credible evidence[…]
