Nearly a month passed, Mohammed al-Roken still held beyond release date
The human rights lawyer Dr. Mohammed al-Roken is still in detention, even so his release date was on 17 July.
Dr Mohammed al-Roken is a leading human rights lawyer and academic. He has dedicated much of his career to providing legal assistance to victims of human rights violations in the United Arab Emirates.
Willing to protect the rights of others at the risk of his own freedom, he often took on cases that were deemed “dangerous” to defend.
Dr. al-Roken was arrested on 17th July 2012. He was held an undisclosed location for 8 months, without access to his lawyer and his family.
On 2nd July 2013, the Federal Supreme Court convicted and sentenced Dr. al-Roken to a 10-year prison sentence for signing – along with 132 other people – an online petition calling for political reform.
He was convicted and sentenced following a grossly unfair mass trial of 94 people (known as the “UAE 94” trial) including human rights lawyers, judges and student activists.
On 17th July 2022, Dr. al-Roken completed his 10-year prison sentence he received in 2012.
As his 10-year-sentence has come to an end, we renew calls on the UAE authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken without delay.
