Emirati political prisoner held at an unknown location in the UAE

An Emirati prisoner of conscience, Hassan Munif al-Jabri, has been held at an undisclosed location, incommunicado, for 487 days.

Al-Jabri’s family reportedly lost all contact with him on August 15 2020, when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities prohibited him from making phone calls. His family has not seen him since December 2019, after the Emirati authorities suspended prison visits due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and have expressed grave concerns over his health and safety. Currently, his whereabouts remain unknown.

On April 9 2012, al-Jabri, alongside 93 other political activists, was arrested after openly criticising the Emirati government and signing a petition calling for democratic reform in the UAE. After being subjected to enforced disappearance for over seven months, he was sentenced to ten years in prison on July 2 2013 as part of the grossly unfair UAE 94 mass trial. 

In the wake of the Arab Spring across the Middle East and North African region in 2011, the UAE has undertaken a widespread and systematic crackdown on freedom of expression, association and assembly to such an extent that today, civil society and civic space are virtually non-existent in the country. Political parties, human rights organisations and demonstrations are banned in the UAE.