In the United Arab Emirates, families face a real and serious threat to freedoms by simply being associated with individuals fighting and advocating for human rights within the country. This form of collective punishment is enacted as a means of striking fear of retribution in those who would stand up to authorities and hold them accountable in committing to greater human rights.
This is all too true for the al-Roken family. Dr. Mohammed al-Roken is a prominent human rights defender and lawyer. His work includes numerous court cases where he represented other human rights defenders. Dr. al-Roken was arrested and later convicted in the controversial mass trial known as the 94. Though he was due to be released, as he had served his sentence, UAE authorities utilized a law allowing for indefinite detention under the guise of rehabilitation to keep Dr. al-Roken imprisoned.
According to reports, Rashid Al-Roken and Salem Al-Roken have now been arrested by the State Security Apparatus in the UAE. As of writing, the charges against the two have not been made publicly available. Rashid and Salem have been purportedly sent to a secret prison run by the State Security Apparatus. Prisoners in the UAE face a multitude of abuses in prisons such as torture, collective punishment, lack of food, and a lack of comunication with their families and lawyers. One can only imagine the abuses the Rashid and Salem will face in the secret prison.
The arrests of Rashid and Salem only highlight the dangers of activism within the UAE and the brutal use of collective punishment against family members by state apparati in order to frighten and dissuade activism. This worrying trend is, unfortunately, not only localized within the country. Emirati authorities have also harassed and intimidated the family members of activists, who live abroad.
Dr. Mohammed al-Roken and his sons, Rashid and Salem, should immediately be released, as should all human rights defenders currently imprisoned within the UAE. Dr. al-Roken’s advocacy for greater human rights is not cause for imprisonment and the use of collective punishment to imprison his sons only highlights the lack of will by Emarati authorities to further human rights within the country.