Lawyers attempt to reach human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who is held incommunicado in United Arab Emirates

Geneva - On 26 February 2018, lawyers from Ireland approachedthe Ministry of the Interior in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to try to gainaccess to distinguished human rights defender AhmedMansoor, who has been detained since 20March 2017 for his human rights activities. Mansoor, who received the Martin Ennals Award forHuman Rights Defenders in 2015, is a member of the advisory boards of the GulfCentre for Human Rights (GCHR).

Given the widely documenteduse of torture and solitary confinement by UAE authorities, and the lack of anyindependent information regarding Mansoor, there are grave fears for hissafety. Numerous organisations haveexpressed concern that he may be tortured and subject to ill treatment indetention.

Several hours after his arrest, the officialstate-run news website, the Emirates News Agency, announced that Mansoor wasarrested on the orders of the Public Prosecutor for Cybercrimes linked to hissocial media posts. Eleven months later, it is unclear what, if any, charges heis facing, whether court proceedings are underway, and if he has legalrepresentation. Furthermore, his place of detention is unknown, and there is noinformation on how he is being treated, or whether he is in solitaryconfinement. With the exception of two family visits on 3 April and 17 September2017, it appears that Mansoor has had no other visitors.

In Abu Dhabi, the Irish lawyers approached theMinistry of the Interior headquarters, which is the authority controlling andrunning prisons. The Ministry referred the lawyers to the police, who are notresponsible for prisons. The police then advised them to approach the Al-Wathbaprison, which they did, only to be told Mansoor is not being held there. Theinability of the authority responsible to provide any information on Mansoor isremarkable given that he has been detained for almost a year.

The mission was mandated by GCHR, the Martin EnnalsFoundation, Front Line Defenders, the International Service for Human Rights(ISHR) and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

The missionpartners continue to call on the UAE authorities to:

· Release Ahmed Mansoor immediately and unconditionally, as he is aprisoner of conscience detained solely for peacefully defending human rights onsocial media;

· Pending his release, disclose his whereabouts and ensure he is held in anofficial place of detention and protected from torture and other ill-treatment;

· Ensure he is granted immediate and regular access to a lawyer of hischoosing, his family, and adequate medical care.

For further information, please contact: MichaelKhambatta +41 79 474 8208

khambatta@martinennalsaward.org or visit www.martinennalsaward.org

Background

Ahmed Mansoor was arrested by a dozen securityofficers at his home in Ajman in the pre-dawn hours of 20 March 2017 and takento an undisclosed location. The security officials conducted an extensivesearch of his home and took away all of the family’s mobile phones and laptops,including those belonging to his young children. The family had no informationabout Mansoor until a statement was issued on the Ministry of Foreign Affairswebsite on 29 March 2017 saying that he was in detention in the Central Prisonin Abu Dhabi. Since his arrest, his family wereallowed to visit him only twice - on 3 April and 17 September 2017, and he hashad no access to a lawyer.

In their public statements, theUAE authorities have said that Mansoor is accused of using social mediawebsites to “publish false information that harms national unity.” On the dayof his arrest, the UAE’s official news agency, WAM, announced that he wasarrested on the orders of the Public Prosecution for Cybercrimes and detainedpending further investigation on charges of “using social media [includingTwitter and Facebook] sites to publish false and misleading information thatharms national unity and social harmony and damages the country’s reputation”and “promoting sectarian and hate-incited agenda”. The statement classifiedthese as “cybercrimes,” indicating that the charges against him may be based onalleged violations of the UAE’s repressive 2012 cybercrime law, whichauthorities have used to imprison numerous activists and which provides forlong prison sentences and severe financial penalties

In theweeks leading up to his arrest, Mansoor had used Twitter to call for therelease of activist Osama Al-Najjar, who remains in prison, despitehaving completed a three-year prison sentence in 2017 on charges related to hispeaceful activities on Twitter; as well as prominent academic and economist Dr Nasserbin Ghaith, arrested in August 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in 2017. Bothmen have been convicted of charges related to peaceful messages they posted onthe social media platform Twitter. Mansoor had also used his Twitter account todraw attention to human rights violations across the region, including in Egyptand Yemen. He had also signed a joint letter with other activists in the regioncalling on leaders at the Arab Summit who met in Jordan in March 2017 torelease political prisoners in their countries.

As aresult of his selfless and tireless efforts to defend the rights of migrantsand Emirati nationals in the UAE, he had become a thorn in the side of the UAEauthorities and consequently the object of years of government harassment andpersecution.

Sincehis arrest, a group of United Nations humanrights experts have called on the UAE to release Mansoor, describing his arrest as “adirect attack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE.”They said they feared that his arrest “may constitute an act of reprisal forhis engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, for the views he expressed onsocial media, including Twitter, as well as for being an active member of humanrights organizations.” The experts include special rapporteurs on human rightsdefenders, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom ofexpression and opinion, along with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group onEnforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

UAE hacks the Apple IOS systemto try to spy on Mansoor.

The lengths the UAE authorities will go tosilence Mansoor are shown by their efforts to hack his iPhone. In a widelydocumented case, the UAE were exposed after Mansoor’s suspicions were raisedand he contact the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in Canada. Citizenlab released the following report: https://citizenlab.ca/2016/08/million-dollar-dissident-iphone-zero-day-nso-group-uae/

Previouscase against Ahmed Mansoor:

Mansoor, along with Dr Nasser bin Ghaith,and online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul-Khaleq, and Hassan Alial-Khamis were arrested in April 2011 and charged with “publicly insulting” UAErulers. On 27 November2011, a panel of four judges of the Federal Court found all five men guilty andsentenced Mansoor to three years in prison, and the others to two years. Thefour men were released the next day, after the UAE president, Sheikh Khalifabin Zayed Al-Nahyan, issued a pardon.