Today, Sunday, a famous Emirati poetess announced that she was banned from traveling by decision of the Abu Dhabi government, due to her stances rejecting normalization with Israel.
The poet and story writer Dhabia Khamis said, through her Facebook and Twitter accounts, that she was prevented from traveling through Dubai Airport on a trip to Cairo on Saturday, by a decision issued by Abu Dhabi without stating the reasons.
She added that the reason for the ban is due "mostly to my declared stances against Zionism and normalization," and said that she feared for her freedoms and her life "from threats and arrest."
The prominent Arab writer called on everyone to deliver her message to human rights organizations anywhere, holding the UAE government fully responsible for any repression, arrest, assassination or liquidation that it is exposed to.
Activists on social media circulated the news that the writer, Khamis, was banned from traveling widely, and a number of writers and poets declared solidarity with and support for her.
Emirati human rights activist Abdullah Al-Tawil said on Twitter, "The former ambassador and poet, Abu Khamis, was prevented from traveling by a security decision due to her rejection of normalization. This is a state of happiness that is administered with a security cover, the suppression of freedoms, the confiscation of rights and the criminalization of freedom of opinion."
The Qatari writer Hani al-Kharraz said in a tweet that “the Emirati writer, Dabia Khamis, is almost the only Emirati woman who explicitly expressed her rejection and condemnation of the normalization agreement with the Zionist entity from inside the Emirates. Today, she is being harassed and banned from traveling.”
The Emirati writer, Dabia Khamis, is almost the only Emirati who expresses her rejection and open condemnation of the normalization agreement with the Zionist entity from inside the Emirates.
Today she is being harassed and banned from traveling
I hope you are well # Gulf_Against_Nationalation # Normalization_Treach pic.twitter.com/qEPA9RN6Zi
- Hani Kharraz (@ Qatar012) September 26, 2020
For his part, the Iraqi writer Jamal Al-Mudhaffar tweeted, through his account on Twitter, saying, "We are in solidarity with the Emirati writer Dhabia Khamis, and we hold the authorities responsible for protecting her."
Our solidarity with the Emirati writer, Dhabia Khamis ... and we hold the authorities responsible for protecting her ... https://t.co/FIEK5wDmEL
- Jamal Al-Muzaffar (@ jamalalmudafer1) September 26, 2020
Dhabia Khamis is an Emirati poet and story writer. She studied political science at Indiana University in 1980 and completed graduate studies at Exeter and London Universities, and then at the American University in Cairo.
She worked as a deputy director of planning in Abu Dhabi, then supervisor of cultural programs at Dubai TV, and worked as a researcher for the Arab League from 1992 until 2010, and she was the first Emirati ambassador to represent the Arab League in India.
And after US President Donald Trump announced the agreement between the UAE and Israel to normalize their relations on August 13, the poetess Abu Khamis wrote on Twitter: "A sad and disastrous day, no to normalization between Israel, the UAE and the Arab Gulf states."
"Israel is the enemy of the entire Arab nation," she added.
On September 15, the UAE and Bahrain signed in Washington two agreements to normalize their relations with Israel, amid widespread Arab popular rejection and accusations of betrayal of the Palestinian cause, in light of the continued Israeli occupation of Arab land.