A source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has claimed that the Emirates’ judiciary is still refusing to accept legal cases on behalf of the seven political reformists who were stripped of their citizenship last month. The label “reformists” is usually attached to Islamists with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
One of those whose citizenship was revoked said that his lawyer filed a lawsuit at the competent court, but the president of the court has so far stalled and refrained from registering the case, without expressing any legal reasons for this delay. “This shows that the local judiciary are not independent but are subject to instructions from above,” he claimed.
The anonymous source also told Quds Press that reformists in the UAE are being subjected to an “organised campaign by the security agencies”. This includes prosecutions, harassment and arrests, as well as being stripped of their citizenship. They are also deprived of their right to freedom of speech and expression because they are calling for an independent UAE parliament, with legislative and oversight powers, “to be elected by all the Emirati people”.
One of the reformists, Sheikh Saleh Al Zufairi, was detained as a result of something he wrote on Twitter. A blogger, Jumaa Al Felassi, was beaten-up for the same reason; he is still receiving medical treatment following that attack.
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