Wednesday, January 25, 2012

UAE: Free Speech Under Attack



Harassment, Arrests, Criminal Prosecutions
January 25, 2012

"(Dubai) – The United Arab Emirates during 2011 muzzled the right of its citizens to express themselves and to form independent associations, Human Rights Watch said today in issuing its World Report 2012 at a news conference in Dubai.

UAE authorities harassed, arrested, and jailed activists, and disbanded the elected boards of two of the country’s most prominent civil society organizations.

In the year of the Arab Spring, the UAE headed in the opposite direction by criminally prosecuting Emiratis who dared to criticize the government,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch......"

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