UAE: One year after Ahmed Mansoor's arrest, RSF and 20 other NGOs ask for his release

Ahmed Mansoor, one of the few sources of freely expressed opinion in the UAE, was arrested at his Dubai home late at night a year ago and held in an undisclosed location ever since, despite condemnation from UN human rights experts and independent human rights organisations.

Ahmed Mansoor , recipient of the 2015 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, was accused of posting “false information, rumours and lies” liable to damage the UAE’s reputation.

One journalist and two citizen journalists are currently imprisoned in the UAE, which is ranked 119th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index.

Please find here the English version of the joint statement.

Signed:

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain

Amnesty International

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)

Article 19

CIVICUS

Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia

English PEN

Freedom Now, Morocco

Front Line Defenders

Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)

Human Rights First

Human Rights Watch

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Maharat Foundation

Martin Ennals Foundation

Moroccan Association for Human Rights

PEN International

Reporters Without Borders

Scholars at Risk

Tunisian Association for Academic Freedoms

Tunis Center for Press Freedom

Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights

Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH)

Tunisian Organisation against Torture

Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders