Urgent Action update: Eight Lebanese men await verdict

On 3 April 2019, eight Lebanese men appeared before the state security Chamber of the Federal Appeal Court in Abu Dhabi. They were allowed to speak out about their detention conditions. At least one of them, Abdel Rahman Chouman, described how he was beaten for six hours at a time during the investigation and forced to sign his ‘confession’ without being allowed to read the document. The Court is to issue its verdict on 15 May, and the families were told that the eight men would be transferred to al-Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi within the following two weeks.

Take action.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 17 MAY 2019

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

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan 

Crown Prince Court

King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz

Al Saud Street,

P.O. Box 124

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Fax: +971 2 668 6622

@MohamedBinZayed

Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Vice-President and Prime Minister

HH 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

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.

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.