Open Letter to UAE Parliament Calling for the Release of Academic Nasser Bin Ghaith

Dear Members of the Federal National Council (FNC),

We are writing to you again in hope that our previous calls regarding Prisoner of conscience Dr Nasser bin Ghaith and put an end to his unlawful arrest, as a member of the Emirati parliament, to prompt the release of the prominent economist and academic.

It has been over five years since the former lecturer at Paris-Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi, underwent his unfair trial in March 2017, which led to his conviction by the court purely on the basis of his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities. He was not only held at an undisclosed location during this period and denied family visits but also tortured. 

Nasser bin Ghaith’s charges, which constituted a direct reprisal against his outspokenness for human rights, in no way legitimated a 10-year prison sentence. His endeavours to draw attention to the UAE’s poor human rights record were framed as an act which “intended to harm the reputation and stature of the State and one of its institutions”. His peaceful attempts to improve the state of political democracy for fellow Emirati citizens should have been recognised as his civil and political rights, internationally recognised in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We would also like to raise awareness as to bin Ghaith’s deteriorating health conditions. He has undertaken a total of 3 hunger strikes throughout his imprisonment and has repeatedly been subjected to torture and ill-treatment by warders. He is detained in unsanitary conditions and is continually denied critical medical treatment for his high blood pressure, we therefore fear for his life!

The far-reaching concern for his case can be recognised in the fact that Mary Lawlor, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, demanded his immediate and unconditional release in November 2020. This was urged for along with the release of other Emirati prisoners of conscience, Mohamed Al-Roken and Ahmed Mansoor. 

We therefore implore you, as a member of the UAE’s Federal National Council, to initiate the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Nasser bin Ghaith, whose health remains critical and whose peaceful activism does not justify a 10-year long sentence.

Yours sincerely,

The International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE