On September 24, 2025, Irez Brands Kehris, deputy secretary general for human rights, presented the secretary general report on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and the mechanisms in the human rights field in the Human Rights Council during its 60th session. Having cooperated, with the United Nations. He also found that many actors in civil society continue to deal with important restrictions on their activities.
In its conclusion, the report stressed that the States continue to apply “laws and regulations concerning civil society, the fight against terrorism and national security which have had the effect of dissuading or hindering cooperation with the United Nation”. Such practices prevent not only individuals and groups from engaging with international organizations, but also dissent at the national level, preventing individuals from denouncing actions that violate international standards.
In the United Arab Emirates, laws against terrorism were used to pursue individuals who peacefully defend political reforms or criticize the government. Since the first mass trials in 2012, known as UAE94, these laws have restricted and abolished peaceful political discourse, criminalizing the exercise of fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association. Concerns concerning the abusive use of these laws have been raised several times by special rapporteurs of the United Nations, who expressed serious concerns during the second mass trial, of water84, when new accusations were brought against members of civil society, in particular defenders of human rights, militants and political dissidents, in violation of international prohibitions on the double Jeopardy and retroactive criminal.
In July 2024, follow -up sentences for human rights defenders, the United Nations special rapporteurs, said in a press release that the targeting of human rights defenders with long prison terms destroyed lives, families and communities. Ahmed al-Nuaimi experienced these severe first-hand consequences. Now living in exile, Al-Nuaimi has not been able to return to water since 2012. “Fearing the arrest simply for having exercised my rights to freedom of expression and association, I made the decision difficult not to return to my country of origin, although my family stayed there at the time,” he said. He was later sentenced, in absentia, to 15 years in prison, adding: “This situation is particularly painful, because it takes place in a country where I have been raised, a place where many of us considered a path to democracy”.
During a event held at the Geneva press club on Thursday October 2, 2025 in collaboration with Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC), Cap Freedom of Conscience, Mena Rights Group and the Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF), Al-Nuaimi explained that the regime was not only targeting it but also his family, imposing travel prohibitions and bank accounts but also
Originally published in The European Times.
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