Thursday, April 28, 2011

UAE targets activists as clampdown widens



28 April 2011

"The arrest of six civil society activists and the government’s takeover of a rights organization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are part of a worrying clampdown on dissent in the country, Amnesty International said today.



Five of the activists were among more than 100 signatories of a recent petition calling for democratic reforms in the UAE, according to local media reports.

At the same time, a lawyer for three of the detainees has said that he has received anonymous threats via Facebook and by way of text messages.

The UAE authorities also dissolved the board of the Jurists Association, a leading civil rights organization after it joined a call for greater democracy alongside three other civil society organizations. Board members have been replaced with state-appointees for a six-month period...."

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