Seven Years On: Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith must be released

UAE authorities arrested human rights defender and professor of economics Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith in August 2015 and held him in incommunicado detention for nine months. 7 years on, the ICFUAE urges the Emirati authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith.

On 29th March 2017, a UAE court sentenced him to 10 years in prison after finding him guilty of posting material online “intended to harm the reputation and stature of the state.” The evidence for this rested on a series of Tweets in which bin Ghaith had criticised the human rights record of both the Emirati and Egyptian authorities.

Prior to his conviction, he had been subjected to an enforced disappearance, where he was held for almost a year without charge and denied access to a lawyer. During this period, he alleges that he was tortured by security officials. Despite requests to do so, the Emirati authorities have so far refused to open an investigation into these claims.

In April 2017 and in protest to his unfair detention, bin Ghaith went on hunger strike for over 40-days, demanding his immediate release. 

The UAE authorities responded to this by transferring him to Abu Dhabi’s al-Razeen prison, a maximum-security facility holding predominantly government critics. Notorious for its repressive conditions, inmates regularly report instances of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of warders.

Since being detained at al-Razeen, the authorities have reportedly subjected bin Ghaith to all-manners of mistreatment including: beatings, solitary confinement, the suspension of family visitation rights and denial of access to adequate medical care.

In response, bin Ghaith has since engaged in two further hunger strikes for almost 80 days cutting his liquid consumption in 2018 and in 2019. The authorities responded to these by reportedly subjecting bin Ghaith to beatings and death threats. As a result of the hunger strikes and mistreatment, his health is said to have deteriorated rapidly - despite this, the authorities continue to deny him access to adequate medical care. 

ICFUAE continue to stand in complete solidarity with Nasser bin Ghaith and renew our calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

The ICFUAE calls on the UAE government, to end the practice of indefinite detention and to immediately release Dr Nasser bin Ghaith and all prisoners of conscience.