Mohamed Abdullah AL-ROKEN
Dr. Mohammad Abdullah Al-Roken was sentenced to life imprisonment in July, along with 42 others, following a grossly unfair trial notoriously known as UAE 84. He has been held since his arrest on 17 July 2012.
The defendants, including Dr Al-Roken, were convicted on 10 July 2024 of bogus ‘charges’ of ‘establishing’ and ‘supporting’ a terrorist group, in relation to their alleged links to the Justice and Dignity Committee, a group of government critics who between 2011 and 2012 called for the respect of human rights in the UAE (see Case Lists 2014 – 2022). Most, if not all, including Al-Roken, were previously convicted of similar vague charges in the notorious ‘UAE 94’ trial and many, including Al-Roken, were being held after expiry of their sentences under a law permitting indefinite detention for ‘rehabilitation’, when news of the fresh charges broke on 10 December 2023 (World Human Rights Day) during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. (see Case List 2023/2024). The mass trial sparked international outrage, including from UN human rights experts in January and July 2024.
Al-Roken’s investigation records from 2012 reveal that he complained of being held in solitary confinement and being subjected to continuous light exposure, among methods of torture or other ill-treatment used against other ‘UAE 94’ defendants and documented by Human Rights Watch. In April 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concluded that the UAE 94 defendants, including Al-Roken, were held arbitrarily, raising concerns over grave violations of the right to a fair trial, including forced confessions and reports of torture and other ill-treatment, and prolonged solitary confinement. The WGAD concluded that the charges brought against them related to acts that fall under the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly, and urged the UAE government to release them and provide them with adequate reparation. PEN International has long campaigned for his release, including by highlighting his imprisonment in the 2021 Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign.
Dr Mohamed Abdullah Al-Roken, born 26 September 1962, is a prominent Emirati writer, academic and human rights lawyer specialising in freedom of expression and counter-terrorism. He was a member of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), the International Bar Association, and is the former president of the dissolved UAE Jurists Association.