{"id":762623,"date":"2022-07-27T07:24:13","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T07:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/?p=23508"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:24:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T07:24:13","slug":"al-roken-remains-in-uae-jail-even-after-1-his-ten-years-have-expired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/07\/27\/al-roken-remains-in-uae-jail-even-after-1-his-ten-years-have-expired\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Roken remains in UAE jail even after 1 his ten years have expired."},"content":{"rendered":"

On 22 July 2022 Brian Dooley<\/a> and Quinn Fulton\u00a0wrote for Human Rights First a post: “Ten Years But Still Counting \u2013 UAE Fails To Release Jailed Activist Al-Roken<\/em>“<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

..Prominent Emirati human rights defender and lawyer Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken finished his ten-year sentence on July 17, but still hasn\u2019t been released from jail. [see: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/7B69B1D9-E359-444A-B448-02E8B9C0750C<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Al-Roken practiced peaceful activism, looking for minimal reforms towards democracy and standing up for human rights. He and other peaceful activists, including Ahmed Mansoor<\/a> and Nasser bin Ghaith<\/a>, were given long sentences after unfair trials. [see also: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/074ACCD4-A327-4A21-B056-440C4C378A1A<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Human Rights First has covered their cases and others for many years, and urged a succession of U.S. administrations to use the influence they have accrued \u2013 not least through supplying the Emirates with billions of dollars of weapons<\/a> \u2013 to push for the release of jailed human rights activists there.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government knows exactly who Al-Roken is and what he stands for.  He has been featured in a succession of U.S. reports describing him as \u201ca human rights activist\u201d (2007<\/a>), \u201ca lawyer\u2026reportedly held incommunicado and without charge for unknown reasons\u201d (2012<\/a>), and a \u201clawyer, academic and human rights defender\u201d (2021<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In 2015, Human Rights First wrote<\/a> about his wrongful imprisonment, and noted in a report<\/a> that year on human rights in the Emirates that \u201cFormer heads of the Jurists Association are now political prisoners, including renowned constitutional scholar Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken. He is one of dozens serving long prison sentences after being convicted in mass trials.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have continued to raise cases through the media<\/a> of human rights defenders wrongfully detained in the Emirates, and we successfully campaigned<\/a> for the release of American citizens Mohammed and Kamal Al Darat when they were tortured and detained in the Emirates for over a year.<\/p>\n

We are not alone in recognizing Al-Roken\u2019s human rights work and wrongful imprisonment. Major international human rights organizations<\/a> have campaigned for him for years, and in 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize<\/a>. <\/p>\n

When calling<\/a> for Al-Roken\u2019s release, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders noted that he was jailed on charges of \u201cplotting against the government,\u201d and \u201csubjected to intermittent periods in solitary confinement, allegedly without justification or explanation.\u201d The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Al-Roken \u201cis reportedly well known for defending victims of human rights violations in the United Arab Emirates,\u201d and deemed<\/a> his detention as arbitrary.<\/p>\n

We know that getting people who have been wrongfully detained in the Emirates out of prison is difficult, but it sometimes can be done if there is substantial international public pressure \u2013 as with the Al Darats and the British academic Matthew Hedges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s important that the Biden administration speaks out publicly about Al-Roken. Our years of advocacy experience tells us that behind-the-scenes diplomacy is unlikely to work..<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.humanrightsfirst.org\/blog\/ten-years-still-counting-uae-fails-release-jailed-activist-al-roken<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 22 July 2022 Brian Dooley and Quinn Fulton\u00a0wrote for Human Rights First a post: \u201cTen Years But Still Counting \u2013 UAE Fails To Release Jailed Activist Al-Roken\u201c ..Prominent Emirati human rights defender and lawyer Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken finished his ten-year sentence on July 17, but still hasn\u2019t been released from jail. [see: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/7B69B1D9-E359-444A-B448-02E8B9C0750C] Al-Roken [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1643,35218,3117,9555,26645,6,3209,1424,26646,3210,9556,51561,1541,1,631],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763437,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762623\/revisions\/763437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}