UAE prohibits human rights conference

Human Rights Watch, an international organisation dedicated to defending and protecting human rights, confirmed on Thursday that it has been prohibited from holding a press conference in Dubai about a report that is critical of the United Arab Emirates.

The New York-based organisation said in a statement that it had planned to release its 2014 report on rights abuses in the UAE in a Dubai hotel conference room that was reserved over a month ago.

The statement explained that: “the hotel management informed Human Rights Watch early Thursday morning that the reservation had been cancelled due to the fact that the organisation did not have the necessary government permit to hold the conference.”

The organisation noted that the hotel “made no request for a permit” after the room was booked, and that permits were not normally required in the past.

Human Rights Watch Chief for the Middle East and North Africa Sarah Leah Whitson commented that: “Blocking Human Rights Watch from holding a news conference in the UAE sadly underscores the increasing threat to freedom of expression in the country.”

The report that the organisation was planning to disclose during the press conference accuses the UAE of “continuing to target the freedom of expression and assembly”.

Moreover, the organisation criticised the Emirati government for “arbitrarily” arresting a large number of people who are suspected of having relations with local or international Islamic groups.

It also considers the prison sentences of 69 Islamists in July to have been a result of “manifestly unfair trials marred by credible allegations of torture at state security facilities”.