UAE Youth and the State Security Service – analytical view

Twitter has been the field of unprecedented movement by UAE youth who face violations of the State Security Service in the UAE. We have with this movement some comments as follows:

First, the mediator in the Gulf issues finds that the youth of the UAE, in particular, were able to expose the practices and violations of Security service of UAE- which take the methods of the Security services in Egypt and Tunisia. The talk about freedom, rights, justice, dignity and being free from the security grip are the goals of the UAE youth that shows that dignity is not just services to be provided to the citizens but it is deeper than this, as it is represented in the rights of citizenship.

Second, the UAE youth were able to turn the conflict with the Security Service from darkness to the light and from the closed doors to open space. The security apparatus couldn’t resist it because they work only in the dark and can’t face the people in public. Also they do not understand the peaceful struggle and their minds are still linked to insults, defamation, detention and threats. Thus they shut up, but some of them tried to defend by scorning and insulting using false accounts and images.

Third, the public opinion found out the fact of tyranny and abuses practiced by the security in the shadows in all sectors of the society and it has even reached the level of interference in the non-delivery of electricity to the homes of some, and thus the security service has become in too difficult position to defend because it is a secret and gelatinous apparatus that is unable to appear in public. What is solution to that very strong wave of the UAE youth against these violations????

Fourth, the organized attack used by the Emirati security to cover its practices and the use of a tool that can absorb the blows against it and they have done the following:

1) The use of Dahi Khalfan in the confrontation for the following reasons: he is a police and an official personal, who is distinguished as a dialectical and reckless man. He always threats and warns, and this is in line with the Emeriti Security mind to turn people and young from security to Dahi and Dubai Police. This is precisely what has happened when Dahi threatened using Twitter in February that he is preparing lists to punish them.

2) They make the public opinion busy by invoking the issue of Al-Qaradawi and Dahi Khalfan and make use of the Emirati emotions that are linked to their country and their rulers claiming that Al Qaradawi is attacking the UAE and its rulers, but in fact his statements were some advices. When I spoke to some Emirati people, I found that they agreed on the content of what the sheikh said but they were angry because he spoke in Aljazeera channel, as the security succeeded in arousing the public opinion. In fact it is an emperor success because it is emotional.

3) The use of the Dubai Police to enter the center of Emirates Security and youth. They also used it to be a shield in order to stand against the youth strikes. The Dubai police, which is a local authority, began to violate the role of the Ministry of Interior to arrest the activist Saleh El Zufiri who was exposing the practices of security and threatened to set up lists of corrupted names and bring them to justice. The important question remains: where is the role of the Federal Ministry of Interior and Sheikh Saif bin Zayed on the subject. Why Dahi, who represents Dubai, not Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, who represents the United Arab Emirates???? The arrest happened in Ras Al Khaimah. Why is not it done by Ras Al Khaimah Police, which follows the Ministry of Interior???

4) To terrorize, the security apparatus started to use the Egyptian style bullying in physical abuse against activists in order to threaten and intimidate the others. It was clear when they attacked the activist Jumah El Falasi. It is a gulf precedent that didn’t happen before in the Arab Gulf countries.

5) Use of media in the process of distortion and accusation of UAE youth as traitors and who are supported by foreign countries and they are from the Muslim brotherhood. They used Noor Dubai channel to attack the youth and to draw the attention away from the security so that the youth are involved in side conflicts with the media.

6) Focus on sedition and breach of security and that these young people seek behind certain interests so that the people stand against them and by giving some people in the media the ability to play that role even if the people of the UAE know that they are right and the security began to violate the rights and freedom of people.

Fifth: Dubai, the well known Emirate of its economy and creativeness and which took the big part of the program of Ahmed Al Sheqeri Khawater, has now become a tool in the security service through the exploitation of the Dubai Police and some of the characters that work in the office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. This confirms the fact that Dubai has lost its power after the financial crisis and it is not strong enough to stand in front of the security authoritarianism which harms the reputation of Dubai and threatens its economy and its reputation that started to fade away because they need money from Abu Dhabi!!!

Sixth: I followed and pondered in two months the movement of the UAE youth in order to judge myself of what I see in reality and in social networks through my repeated visits to the UAE. I found out that young people, who want to stop the violations and the dominance of Security service over the affairs of civilian life, always stress that they respect their rulers and differentiate between them and the actions of the security apparatus. Those young are known and use true images and account and they belong to big families rather than the level their thoughts against insults and verbal abuse used by the security apparatus.

All in all, as a gulf citizen, I see that the youth of UAE assert that their campaign based on the dignity, justice and the state of law away from honorees and initiatives offered by their government. The youth movement is a different model says that the UAE is an advanced and developed country, but they are demanding these developments to be extended to include the political life and freedom...