Ahmed Mansoor given honorary citizenship of Lyon

On the International Human Rights Day, imprisoned Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor was given honorary citizenship of the city of Lyon in France.

 At an impressive ceremony at Lyon City Hall, Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), of which Mansoor is an Advisory Board member, accepted the certificate of honorary citizenship from Lyon’s Mayor, Grégory Doucet. 

Doucet commended Mansoor for his excellent human rights work in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he is serving 10 years in prison.

Mansoor was arrested on 20 March 2017 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in May 2018 after being unfairly convicted of the offence of “insulting the status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols including its leaders” in reprisal for his peaceful human rights activism, including through his posts on social media. He is the recipient of the 2015 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

Since his arrest, Mansoor has been held in solitary confinement in Al-Sadr prison in Abu Dhabi, where he is being denied a bed, mattress or pillow, as well as being deprived of adequate medical care, exercise and sunshine, which puts his life at risk. Reliable local sources confirmed that his health continues to deteriorate, and he suffers from high blood pressure and general fatigue.

Despite repeated calls by human rights organisations and international mechanisms over the past years, the UAE authorities have not allowed international experts or independent monitors access to Mansoor in prison.