Human Rights Watch yesterday called on the UAE authorities to conduct an "immediate and transparent" investigation of the conditions of a 21-year-old Emirati prison that attempted suicide in the prison.
The organization stated - quoting sources close to the prison woman - that Al-Wathba prison authorities subjected her and another 37-year-old Emirati female prisoner to solitary confinement for at least three weeks, and denied them adequate medical care.
The two women, respectively called Maryam al-Balushi and Amina al-Abdouli, are serving a five-year prison sentence on charges related to state security.
Sources close to the two women told the organization that the UAE authorities placed them in solitary confinement, at least from February 17 to March 11 this year after Al-Balushi committed suicide, after which the two women began a hunger strike.
"Prison officials in the UAE have a proven track record of prisoner abuse, including prolonged solitary confinement," said Michael Page, deputy director of the organization's Middle East division.
In an audio recording leaked from the prison in late January, Al-Balooshi said that new accusations were directed against her and Abdooli by spreading false information, harming the reputation of the UAE, and causing problems with neighboring countries because they had leaked an audio recording before describing the conditions of their detention since their arrest on November 20. November 2015.
In a letter to the UAE authorities in February 2019 regarding the two women, three UN special rapporteurs revealed their exposure to solitary confinement, torture and ill-treatment, the use of forced confessions, and the denial of appropriate treatment, which the UAE authorities denied.
Sources close to Al-Balooshi told Human Rights Watch that since her arrest when she was 19 years old, her health has seriously deteriorated, and that she suffers from kidney problems that cause her severe pain.
The sources added that the authorities have prevented Al-Balushi from entering the prison clinic since at least December 2018, and that she has been denied medical treatment appropriate to her condition.