You are not Diaky, dear advocates of reform!

By: Ibrahim bin Omar Al Sakran

When I recognized this painful comparison, I said to myself: “Your problem is that you are not Diaky, advocates of reform!”

Praise be to Allah, and then,

The jurist Sheikh Muhammad Abd Al-Razzaq Al-Siddiq (a member of the World Association of Muslim Scholars and a member of the Islamic Banking Committees), the renowned scholar Dr. Ali Al Hammadi (Head of Center of Creative Thinking), and their fellow brothers Dr. Shaheen Al Hosni (specialist in library science), and Hassan Al Jabri (specialist in charitable work), and Hussein Al Jabri (educational expert), and Ibrahim Al Marzouqi (educational expert), this group are Emirate effective actors, and they are members of the Association of Reform and Social Guidance in the UAE, an official big association headed by Sheikh Sultan Bin Kayed Al Qassimi, and it is the most powerful institutions for advocacy in the UAE. Some of these actors (Siddiqui, Al Hammadi and Al Hosni) participated in signing a letter to Sheikh Khalifa in March 2011, calling him for carrying out fundamental political reforms related to the expansion of popular participation.

Withdrawal of nationality: security folly or state policy?!

By: Jassem Rashed Al Shamsi

Posted on 29 December 2011

Withdrawal of nationality: security folly or state policy?!

It is a bad news, circulated on social networks, some satellite channels, and asserted later by an official statement issued by the General Department for Naturalization and Residence and Ports, that the nationality of "six" citizens was withdrawn. Some web sites reported that they are seven citizens, as the statement did not contain Ahmed Ghaith Al Suwaidi, an Islamist activist.

Detention of UAE Activist, Ahmed Ghaith Al-Suwaidi, in Continous Counter-reform Crackdowns

Detention of UAE Activist, Ahmed Ghaith Al-Suwaidi, in Continous Counter-reform Crackdowns

Some informed resources told (WATAN) that the security authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arrested UAE activist Ahmed bin Ghaith Al Suwaidi in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in a petrol station there, according to the resources. The arrest took about two hours and a half, due to the refusal of the activist Bin Ghaith to comply with the order of detention calling the security personnel for showing the prosecution warrant.

Statement by Dawat Al-Islah on the arrest of the Reformist Saleh al-Dhufairy

Statement by Dawat Al-Islah

on the arrest of the Reformist Saleh al-Dhufairy

As a continuation to the not-yet-stopped series of violations against reformists inside the UAE, Dubai Security Service (DSS) arrested the reformist Sheikh Saleh al-Dhufairy in the late evening on Monday, March 5, 2012. We, in Dawat Al-Islah, and backed by the freemen and activists in our homeland, condemn this arbitrary security detention against al-Dhufairy specially, as we condemn all actions taken by the security apparatus against the citizens of the UAE ranging from withdrawal of nationalities to other inhumane harassments.

What happened to Sheikh al-Dhufairy this time from the Dubai Security Service will not derail Dawat Al-Islah and its advocates from their adherence towards realization of human and social rights; no matter how great the sacrifices and pains are. We, in Dawat Al-Islah, emphasize on the necessity of the immediate release of Al-Dhufairy without any delay.

The Association of Sunni scholars

The Association of Sunni scholars received news on the withdrawal of the citizenship of a number of advocates of reform in the United Arab Emirates, as various rights groups did, with much sorrow and condemnation. The charges of the inflicted citizens are all about their affiliation to the UAE Society of Reform and Social Guidance, as well as some of them co-signed a petition raised to the head of state calling for reforms in the legislature of the state, so that to engineer democratic elections for the national Council, and to assume its role with full powers. Publicly, they have been accused that they represent a threat to the national security of the United Arab Emirates, as well as charged of association with "suspicious" organizations and personalities on the regional and international levels, and links to some suspicious organizations and associations included in the United Nations lists of combating the financing of terrorism; added to other indictment panels.

Nationalities of the UAE Citizens… Between Stripping and Dropping!

Nationalities of the UAE Citizens… Between Stripping and Dropping!
By Muhammad Saleh Al Mansouri

Exceeding the limits and definitions of shock, human rights arena in the UAE has witnessed what’s far from being a setback, represented in the violation of the basic rights of six UAE human rights, social, cultural, religious and administrative activists by dropping their Emirati citizenship.

This infringement on the right of these great men is unjustifiable and has no explanation on the legal, constitutional and juristic levels; as well as lacking support or satisfaction of any level in the national fabric ranging from the senior leading elite to the UAE citizens and freemen who expressed their intense anger and discontent.

This poorly-discussed and irresponsible action requires a serious and decisive attitude by all the citizens in the United Arab Emirates to put an end once and forever for these serious forms of violation of the basic rights of the citizen of the UAE, and put an ultimate end to the previous setbacks in human rights which will only lead to an increase in grievances and maximizing the number of the oppressed people.

Sit-in opposite London UAE embassy counteracting restriction of public freedoms in UAE

Sit-in opposite London UAE embassy counteracting restriction of public freedoms in UAE

Express News
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
London – QudsPress

Emirati and Arab students organized on Wednesday 8/2/2012 a protest in front of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the British capital, London, remonstrating the "restrictions enforced on public freedoms in the UAE," and denunciating the act by UAE authorities stripping seven Emirati citizens of their nationalities, on the background of their demands for reform .
The protestors called upon the UAE authorities "to repeal the decisions recently taken for restricting public freedoms and violating human rights as well as infringing the human dignity; that are absolutely embodied in the confiscation of most of the working non-profit organizations and changing their elected boards of directors and putting them all under the guardianship of the authorities". The protestors drew the attention to the fact that these decisions harmed a number of associations, including teachers and bar associations along with the Association of Reform and Social Guidance, Student Union, New Muslim Care Society, Social Guidance Association and Fishermen's Association added to some Qur’anic institutes and other student organizations.
The protestors distributed publications to the public in which they figured out that their protest in front of the embassy also for denunciating the UAE authorities’ decision to strip seven UAE citizens of their nationalities, arguing that "this exposes them and their families to the most inhuman punishments, i.e., stripping of identity."
They elaborated that stripping the seven citizens of their nationalities was accompanied by a freeze on all things related to their circles of interests, and periling the interests of their families and children under the same decree. Added to their passion due to this decision, they cannot work in the public and private sectors, all their salaries and real-estate properties frozen, and commercial licenses, identity cards, driving licenses, medical treatment cards and passports have been all withdrawn along with other papers. Worth mentioning, all these episodes of tragedy happened on the background of a petition filed by Emirati elite to the President of the UAE in the past year calling for a fully-fledged national assembly."
The student protesters affirmed they will continue in their protest in front of the UAE embassy in London, while the option of expanding these protests will be on board, "unless the UAE authorities decline their decisions, and rehabilitate all those affected by these draconian decisions," they said.
Vienna-based “Friends of Humanity International” has earlier considered the decision removing the UAE citizenship from six Emirati citizens, "of the UAE most public figures known for their reformative attitudes" an illegal step involving "a gross violation of international human rights covenants."
Whereas the Istanbul-based International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations (IIFSO) expressed its serious concern regarding the decision of the UAE authorities to withdraw citizenships from six public figures, appealing the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for rapid intervention to resolve that injustice done against those " prominent thinkers, reform advocates and leaders of opinion," adding that a "human injustice" such that would tarnish the reputation of the UAE.