In locked words and a voice suffocated by the verbs, the 15-year-old Jordanian boy, Adel Bahaa Matar, describes the feelings of longing and nostalgia for his father, detained in the UAE prison in Al-Wathba, Abu Dhabi, after being convicted of "promoting terrorist organizations."

"I feel like I suffocate from the inside when my father's name is mentioned," Adel told Al Jazeera Net. "I need him on my side ... I don't feel safe without him ... My memories of him are with me every time and every time ... I wait for his meeting and I don't stop thinking about it."

Adel's father is one of four Jordanians arrested by the UAE five years ago, including Maher Abu Al-Shawareb and the two brothers Abdullah and Yasser Abu Bakr.

All four young men worked in Abu Dhabi for years, before being arrested in 2015, when a UAE court sentenced them to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to one million dirhams each.

Manal as she turns old photos of her two sons, Abdullah and Yasser Abu Bakr, who are detained in the Emirates (Al-Jazeera).

Unfair charges

The court then attributed the youths the charge of belonging to and promoting terrorist organizations. However, the families of the detainees considered that the court relied on a video circulating on the organization of the state that the youth exchanged through a special group on the WhatsApp application as a matter of news rather than promotion, and that their children do not carry any political affiliations.

Roqaya Matar, mother of the detained Bahaa, tells Al-Jazeera Net painful details about her son's health condition, who settled in Dubai with his wife and children, and he worked in the field of information technology.

"My son was infected with the Corona virus because he had contact with infected prisoners ... I am very concerned about his life, as he suffers from chronic health problems in his respiratory and digestive systems," she says with a sad voice.

Samir Jarrah: 10 years in prison for handling a video - regardless of its content - a very severe punishment (Al-Jazeera)

Roqaya Matar appeals to her country's government to intervene with the UAE authorities in order to reduce the sentence for her son and release him.

The suffering of Baha Matar's mother is not different from the suffering of the Jordanian, Manal, the mother of the detainees Abdullah and Yasser Abu Bakr. Manal Wahida lives with her aches and pains in a small house east of the capital, Amman.

She says that she is experiencing the pain of loss and the pain of cancer, which she suffered from her skinny body, after she lost her husband to the same disease, and her only children left behind are the bars of Al Wathba prison.

Inside her living room, Manal used to turn old pictures of her two children, and weeping, "I bear the responsibility of eight souls who are the sons of Abdullah and Yasser ... I feel permanent pain, not because of my illness, but because of my grandchildren’s sorrow and their longing for their parents."

She added, "I respect the laws and laws of countries, but I appeal to my family in the sister Emirates to waive the punishment for my children, especially after the outbreak of the Corona virus." "All I hope for is for the family to be reunited, and to meet with them before God takes his trust."

Families say they have checked with the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeatedly to end the suffering of their children, but they have not received answers that will cure their offspring. Al Jazeera Net tried to communicate with the ministry, but it did not receive a response to its inquiries.

From a previous sit-in of the families of Jordanian detainees in the Emirates in front of the Jordanian Foreign Ministry (Al-Jazeera)

Activists and families of the detainees had launched an electronic campaign via social media, calling for the release of their children. The campaign received widespread sympathy and video circulation in which the detainees' children appealed for the release of their parents. A video clip of a child of one of the detainees spread, including his picture, to her chest, crying, and calling for his release. "I miss you, dad, and fear you of the Coronavirus," the girl said in the video, addressing her father.

Regarding the conditions of the four detainees inside Al-Wathba prison, human rights sources confirm to Al-Jazeera Net that they face a tragic situation due to the prison conditions and their lack of adequate medical care, in light of the poor basic services, infrastructure and hygiene.

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch revealed that the Coruna virus was spreading in three detention centers in the UAE, describing them as "notorious" prisons.

The organization quoted families of detainees in Al-Wathba prison specifically as complaining about overcrowding and lack of health care, the lack of precautionary measures against the spread of the virus, and the lack of prevention tools.

The legal and legal expert, Samir Al-Jarrah, commented on the details of the ruling issued against Jordanian detainees in the Emirates for Al-Jazeera Net by saying that "the prison sentence is 10 years, only because the defendants circulated a video - regardless of its content - that is a very cruel punishment and is not commensurate with the crime."

Al-Jarrah added, "The penalties have doubled considerably in the UAE in the recent period after the amendment of the electronic crime law, as it has become very harsh for residents and citizens."