Urgent Action: Human rights defender on hunger strike

Prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor has been on hunger strike for over three weeks in protest of his prison conditions and his unfair trial. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression. He was convicted on charges including "insulting the status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols", including its leaders, "publish[ing] false information to damage [the] UAE’s reputation abroad” and “portray[ing] the UAE as a lawless land.” Ahmed Mansoor is a prisoner of conscience.

Take action.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 21 MAY 2019

Please write urgently in your own words or using the template letter included in English or Arabic to:

Vice-President and Prime Minister

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum

Prime Minister’s Office

PO Box 212000 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Fax: +971 4 330 4044

Email via web: https://uaecabinet.ae/en/contact-the-prime-minister

Twitter: @HHShkMohd 

Salutation: Your Highness

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

HIS EXCELLENCY MR SULAIMAN HAMID ALMAZROUI, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, 1-2 Grosvenor Cres, Belgravia London SW1X 7EE, 020 7581 1281, email www.uae-embassy.ae/uk

Please check with your section before sending appeals after the above date.

Please note that we are recommending delivery by making a PDF of the letter, or scanning a printed copy, and posting it as an image Tweeted at the official’s individual Twitter account. This is a bit of an experiment because we have major difficulty in getting valid postal addresses for Arab Gulf states. Twitter offers some advantages in that we can be sure the message is transmitted, even if we can’t make the target read it, and in its public nature, which makes it possible that critical Tweets might be noticed if the target is concerned with his public image. The UAE government also prioritises social media engagement for its own brand image.

#FreeAhmed

#humanrightsdefender

#PrisonerOfConscience