Sutton Amnesty has had a particular interest in the UAE following our adoption in 2021 of Dr Mohamed al-Roken as our 'Individual at Risk'. We were therefore very pleased to discover that Sima Watling, who we met at a protest outside the UAE last year, was a Wallington resident and even more pleased when she joined Sutton Amnesty and subsequently agreed to talk to us about the UAE.

Sima has been employed by the Amnesty International Secretariat (IS) since 1998 and her responsibilities cover human rights issues in Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait. 

It is the IS that is originally notified of human rights cases and issues. They then carry out research with their work subsequently reviewed by lawyers. This very thorough process enhances Amnesty's reputation with other NGOs. Amnesty then partners with other NGOs to obtain 'the best product'. The need for Amnesty to get things right means they are very careful about public statements; often it is Amnesty's partners that are freer to make particular points.

The UAE has been closed to Amnesty since 2015. Amnesty's freedom is restricted making it very difficult to get reliable information. Although Amnesty attended (and protested) at COP 28 in the UAE they were only able to enter 'UN controlled' areas.

Sima referred to a trial which started during COP 28 of 84 individuals of whom perhaps 60/65 were previously convicted under the UAE 94 case. Ahmed Mansoor and Mohamed al-Roken are both being prosecuted under the new case. Many of these have passed the end of their sentences. One issue at stake is whether they are being tried a second time for 'belonging to  a terrorist organisation'. On the face of it they are, although the previous trial used the 2003 law and the current trial a revised version of it.

Sima also mentioned that letters will not get through to the UAE. Where we receive urgent actions with letters to UAE addresses we should probably therefore copy/photograph the letters and tweet them.