Amnesty International UK urged the UAE authorities to release constitutional law professor and lawyer Mohammed Al-Roken, who was detained in Emirati prisons for about 10 years, before being released last July and re-arrested.
In a tweet, the organization accused the UAE of unjustly detaining prisoners after their release, as it put it.
In February 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Marie Loulou, spoke about 3 human rights defenders serving prison sentences in Emirati prisons, including Al-Roken.
She said at the time that "Mohammed Al-Roken, Ahmed Mansour and Nasser bin Ghaith were not only criminalized and imprisoned, due to their legitimate and peaceful demands for respect for human rights in the UAE, but were also subjected to ill-treatment in prison."
Manchester Amnesty calls on @HHShkMohd and @MohamedBinZayed to
release @DrAlRoken on July 17th 2022 when his sentence ends!
Detaining people beyond their sentence is a brazen contempt for the rule of law.
#FreeAlRoken #FreeAlRoken17thJuly pic.twitter.com/ZuysxJmdDq
— Manchester Amnesty (@amnestymanc) April 26, 2022
She said that the reports she had received indicate that the conditions and treatment to which these human rights defenders are subjected, such as prolonged solitary confinement, violate human rights standards and may amount to torture.
The UN expert explained that Muhammad al-Roken, who has been imprisoned since 2012 on charges of "conspiring against the government", is subjected to intermittent solitary confinement, allegedly without justification or explanation.
The Working Group on “Arbitrary Detention” (WGAD) concluded in 2013 that such detention is arbitrary, and demanded his immediate release.
Ten years ago @DrAlRoken was imprisoned in the #UAE for his peaceful human rights work.
His release date is 17th July.
The UAE has been unjustly detaining prisoners beyond their release dates.
We urge @HHShkMohd @MohamedBinZayed to #FreeAlRoken #FreeEmiratiActivists pic.twitter.com/LDL4UeREeq
— Manchester Amnesty (@amnestymanc) April 26, 2022