200 Prisoners of conscience in the UAE living in difficult circumstances

In an interview with the International Tasnim News Agency, Dr. Safwa Issa, director of the International Centre for Justice and Human Rights in Geneva, revealed lately that there are about 200 prisoners of conscience in UAE prisons , distributed between Resin and Al Wathba prisons.

Issa confirmed that the detainees are suffering from grinding conditions in prison and that they can be placed in solitary confinement or have their parents and families prevented from visiting them for all sorts of trivial reasons.

Dr Safwa explained that the centre receives a lot of complaints from detainees against the ill-treatment they were subjected to,including torture, clothing and hygienic bad conditions , sleep deprivation and  psychological stress, such as strong lights or noise from loudspeakers or other forms of psychological and physical torture.

She also highlighted the fact that the UAE authorities are waging a fierce campaign against the opponents of reform especially after the start of a petition aimed at establishing democratic rules in the country that was supported by hundreds of intellectuals and academics in Emirate and that the authorities still continue in the same approach of prosecuting  activists and human rights defenders who express their views through social networks such as Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith.