U.A.E. Crackdown Widens as Police Arrest Two More Activists
Two more political activists have been arrested in the United Arab Emirates after calling for democratic and constitutional reforms in the Arab federation, a lawyer and fellow activist said.
Nasser bin Ghaith, an economics professor at the Abu Dhabi branch of France’s Sorbonne University, was arrested April 10 in Dubai, Mohammed al-Mansouri said in a phone interview late yesterday. Ghaith has called for wider representation of citizens on the Federal National Council, which advises the government.
Fahad Saleh al-Shehhy was detained April 9 at his home in the U.A.E. emirate of Ajman, al-Mansouri said, after he and Ghaith participated in an online pro-democracy discussion group called UAE Hewar. The group’s website and its page on Facebook Inc.’s social-networking site have been blocked in the U.A.E.
While the U.A.E. has been spared in the wave of protests taking place across the Arab world this year, the government has taken measures to appease its citizens. It said March 2 that it would allocate 5.7 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) to fund water and infrastructure projects in the country’s northern emirates, which have traditionally lagged behind the rapid development of others such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“The government is calling these people traitors and depriving them of basic rights just because they spoke out,” said al-Mansouri. “We want to be civilized but how will the world take us seriously if our own people are too afraid to talk?”
Earlier Arrest
News of the arrests followed that of Ahmed Mansour, an activist and blogger, who was taken April 8 after 10 police officers entered his Dubai home, searched the house for three hours and seized documents and two laptop computers belonging to him and one of his sons, his wife, Nadia, said in a phone interview the next day.
Mansour was charged today with possession of alcohol, his lawyer, Abdulhamid al-Kumaity, said. Possession of alcohol is illegal in the U.A.E. for Muslims or non-Muslims who don’t hold a government-issued liquor permit. Mansour denies the charge, according to al-Kumaity.
A spokesman for the federal government declined to comment on the arrests. No one at the offices of Dubai’s police was available for comment. Calls and e-mails to the local branch of the Sorbonne seeking comment weren’t immediately answered.
The three men had signed an online petition calling for changes that would allow members of the Federal National Council to be elected. The petition, signed by about 140 people in early March, also calls for the constitution to be amended to give the council full legislative and regulatory authority. Half of the members of the council are elected by a government committee and the rest are appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates.
On March 17, the government said it set Sept. 24 as a date for elections to choose council members.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vivian Salama in Abu Dhabi at vsalama@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page