Emirati authorities arrest political campaigners

The Emirati authorities have been tightening control in the country in the context of regional unrest and concerns that the perceived "virus" of popular revolt could prove contagious. The arrest of four renowned human rights activists and bloggers, three of whom remain in detention without charge, the reputed sackings of others and the shutting down in its present form of the Jurists Association (JA), a non-official body that had sought to represent members of the judiciary, are evidence of this.

The JA, which, according to the US-based Human Rights Watch, has had its board replaced by state appointees, had been one of several organisations that had backed the online petition calling for direct elections to the country's advisory body, the Federal National Council (FNC). Previously, in 2010, some JA members were prevented from travelling abroad.

The arrests followed growth in support for the petition. Ahmed al-Mansoor, who was arrested in early April and taken to an Abu Dhabi prison, is a Dubai telecoms engineer who helped launch www.uaehewar.net, a discussion forum, in 2009, which has been shut down by the UAE authorities. The forum served as a means for issues of human rights and civil concerns to be raised online within the country by an educated and relatively liberal group of nationals. Mr Mansour's friend, Fahad al-Shehhi, from Ras al-Khaimah, who helped with the website, was also arrested. Mr Mansour commented on another Emirati blog, www.emaratikatib.org, which is still accessible outside the country, that he was arrested without a warrant by state security officers who were pretending to be concerned about the contents of his car. The arrest followed a number of alleged death threats. Nasser bin Ghaith, an economics academic, who has taken part in discussions organised by the semi-governmental Dubai School of Government, and defended the emirate's so-called economic model, was arrested in late April after comments he made on his blog in support of reform.

It should be noted that the fourth activist arrested, Abdullah al-Shehhi, also from Ras al-Khaimah, has been arrested before, just as websites have previously been shut down for raising uncomfortable political issues. However, it is plain that the UAE government's existing sensitivity to criticism has been heightened by the regional clamour for change, and specifically by domestic demands aired in the petition that have gained support from former members of the FNC as well as recently by well-connected public figures such as Abdul-Khaleq al-Abdullah, a renowned academic.