human rights defender

Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori

Actions and Campaigns

Urgent support needed

Al-Mansoori's health has significantly deteriorated in prison.

Organization affiliation

  • Justice and Dignity Committee
  • United Arab Emirates Jurists’ Association

HRD's year of birth

1957

HRD's Gender

Man

Type of HRD

  • Lawyer

HRD's thematic area of engagement

  • Civil and political rights

Current Status

In prison (sentenced)

HRD's bio and work

Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori is a human rights lawyer and advocate, holding a PhD in Law from the University of Glasgow (2002). He previously served as Chief of Staff at the Office of the Crown Prince of Ras Al Khaimah, and as the Sharia and Legal Advisor to the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah. He also served as the head of the United Arab Emirates Jurists’ Association, which was disbanded by the UAE authorities. He was ranked by the American magazine Foreign Policy as one of the world's "Knights of Freedom," alongside Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken.

Detained since

Jul 16, 2012

Charge(s)

  • Terrorism

Sentence

35 years

Geolocation of detention

Country or area of detention

Region of detention

  • Asia: Western Asia

Location of detention - City/Town

Abu Dhabi

Location of detention - Facility

Al-Razeen prison

Allegations / reports of ill-treatment

Al-Mansoori was forcibly disappeared for 231 days, held in an undisclosed location where he endured continuous torture. His pretrial detention cell lacked both windows and furniture; it was also continuously lit so as to disorient him and disrupt his sleeping patterns. The violations extended to his family, as the authorities fabricated charges against his 23-year-old daughter, Moza Al-Mansoori, leading to her unjust sentencing to three months in prison. Along with other prisoners of conscience, Al-Mansoori faced relentless abuse and invasive searches, exacerbating their physical deprivation and psychological distress. Guards routinely assaulted the prisoners, subjecting Al-Mansoori to beatings and confiscating his personal belongings such as clothes, toiletries, and notebooks. Prison officials have allegedly also forced Dr. Al-Mansoori to stay in solitary confinement for extended periods of time. These conditions led Dr. Al-Mansoori to develop symptoms of acute sleep deprivation, including increased nervousness, irritability, anorexia, weight loss, muscle weakness, short-term memory loss, high blood pressure, dementia, and an immune system disorder. Al-Mansoori was prompted as a result of this ill-treatment to go on a hunger strike. As a result of his hunger strike, which he undertook to demand his rights, his health has significantly deteriorated.

Recent case update / evolution

In March 2011, after a group of 133 Emirati academics, judges, lawyers, students, and human rights defenders signed a petition addressed to the President of the United Arab Emirates and the country’s Federal Supreme Council calling for democratic reforms, the UAE’s State Security Apparatus (SSA) initiated a campaign of arrests against the individuals who signed the document. Al-Mansoori was arrested on July 16, 2012, as part of the “UAE94” for signing the petition calling for democratic reform in the UAE. Arrested individuals were later sentenced in the UAE’s largest mass trial, known as the “UAE94”, before the Federal Supreme Court. On January 27, 2013, the 94 defendants were charged with founding, organising and administering an organisation aimed at overthrowing the government, on the basis of article 180 of the penal code. On July 2, 2013, the Emirati authorities convicted 61 of the 94 defendants, and Al-Mansoori was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment followed by three years probation. Al-Mansoori’s sentence ended in July 2022, but under the pretext of “rehabilitation needs”, pursuant to the UAE’s Counter-Terrorism Law and the Munasaha Centre Law, the authorities have extended his detention indefinitely. On December 7, 2023, a new mass trial began before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal, where Al-Mansoori was retried for new terrorism charges. On 10 July 2024, the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court meted out sentences ranging from between 10 years to life in prison for 53 defendants in the UAE’s second largest unfair mass trial which is known as the UAE84 case. Al-Mansoori was sentenced to life in prison, which is tantamount to 25 years in prison, “for the crime of establishing, founding and managing” the Justice and Dignity Committee, allegedly “with the aim of committing terrorist acts on the country’s soil”.

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