Human rights groups call on UAE to release prisoners ahead of COP28

28th UN Climate Change Conference will be held from November 30 to December 12 at the Expo City site in Dubai

LONDON – More than 20 human rights organizations have jointly appealed to the UAE to release individuals ahead of COP28.

The 28th UN Climate Change Conference will be held from November 30 to December 12, 2023 at the Expo City site in Dubai.

Although they have already served their sentences, some 58 people, including figures such as Ahmed Mansoor and Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith, remain in detention in the UAE.

Signatories to the open letter include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Front Line Defenders.

The rights groups also called on the UAE to stop monitoring government critics, end the use of repressive laws to detain dissidents, and put an end to the denial of peaceful assembly.

Authorities in the UAE justify the indefinite detention of individuals beyond their sentences by using a broad definition of terrorism, citing concerns for state security and the need for rehabilitation.

Most of those still in detention are part of the UAE94 group of 94 lawyers, academics, and activists convicted in a controversial 2013 trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

There are growing global calls for pressure on the UAE to improve its human rights and environmental record when it hosts the climate change conference.

This is reminiscent of similar demands on Egypt, the host of COP27 last year, which led to calls for reforms in Egypt’s human rights practices and treatment of political prisoners.