MOSCOW, November 18 (Sputnik) — Large numbers of activists have been subject of harassment and torture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while being held in detention, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
"Scores of activists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been harassed, arrested and in some cases tortured in custody," Amnesty stated in a statement published on its website.
The watchdog said among those abused were lawyers, university professors, students and civil society activists. Several of the detainees, according to Amnesty, had links with the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah), which is a peaceful organization, but which the UAE government regards as being associated with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
"Beneath the façade of glitz and glamour, a far more sinister side to the UAE has emerged showing the UAE as a deeply repressive state where activists critical of the government can be tossed in jail merely for posting a tweet," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said in the statement.
"Millions of spectators from across the world are expected to tune in to watch the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix this weekend – yet most of them will have little clue about the ugly reality of life for activists in the UAE," Sahraoui continued in the statement.
According to the organization, persecution of activists in the UAE started after a petition, signed in March 2011 by 133 people, demanding political reform.
The abuse of activists in the UAE has been ignored by the international community, according to Amnesty.
"The scale of the crackdown has been chilling and the truth is that the UAE's dreadful treatment of activists critical of the government, and their families, has gone largely ignored by the world. It is time for the UAE's international allies to stop turning a blind eye to the rampant abuses by the authorities and to place human rights firmly before business interests," Sahraoui added.
Through the statement, the watchdog called on the authorities in the UAE to take measures against the abuses and bring justice against those complicit in the ill-treatment of the detained activists.
