New UAE Anti-Discrimination Law To Stifle Free Speech?
Human Rights Organizations Fear The Worst
By Michael Kaplan @michaeld_kaplan m.kaplan@ibtimes.com on July 20 2015
emirates
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan was behind a new law that outlawed discrimination in the country. Pictured: Zayed al-Nahyan listened to closing remarks during the closing ceremony of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait's Bayan Palace, Dec. 15, 2009. REUTERS/Stephanie McGehee
The United Arab Emirates has issued a broad law that criminalizes any act that was deemed to fuel discrimination based on religion, race or ethnic origin, media outlets reported Monday. Human rights organizations fear the new law will be used to stifle free speech rather than simply stamp out extremism and discrimination.
Under the new law, approved by the president of the federation of Gulf monarchies, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, offenders could face six months to 10 years in prison for encouraging discrimination, as well as committing acts “considered as insulting God, his prophets or apostles or holy books or houses of worship or graveyards.” The law will apply to all forms of media, including speech, writing and online postings.
The laws – if enforced – would constitute some of the strictest anti-discrimination laws in the region. The new legislation would prohibit referring to other religious groups or individuals as “infidels,” likely targeted against religious extremists who declare other Muslims not supportive of their goals as apostates.
Human rights groups expressed skepticism the law would actually be used to curb discrimination. "The concern is clearly that it will be used to further stifle speech under the guise of promoting tolerance," Nicholas McGeehan, Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the Middle East Eye. He further called the law part of “the UAE’s draconian assault on free expression.”
United Arab Emirates Overview | FindTheData
The UAE has repeatedly been criticized by human rights organizations for its poor human rights record. According to Human Rights Watch, the country exploits its affluence to mask its human rights violations. The human rights organization has accused the government of arbitrarily detaining individuals it perceives as posing a risk, and torturing detainees in pretrial detention. Additionally, the country has long been accused of persistent labor abuses and discrimination against foreign workers.
The new law came while Arab states struggled to curb the spread of extremism in their countries and as the Islamic State group based in Iraq and Syria continued to draw recruits from around the world. Earlier this month, the U.S. and the UAE jointly launched an anti-ISIS messaging center in Dubai, meant to counter ISIS propaganda on social media. The country, unlike Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, has not experienced any violence on its soil in recent years.
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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) often uses its affluence to mask the government’s serious human rights problems. The government arbitrarily detains individuals it perceives as posing a threat, and a new counterterrorism law poses a further threat to dissidents and rights activists. Security forces have been implicated in torturing detainees in pretrial detention, authorities have invoked repressive laws to prosecute critics of the government. Labor abuses persist, as migrant construction workers facing serious exploitation, including on one of the country’s most high-profile projects. Female domestic workers are excluded from regulations that apply to workers in other sectors.
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UAE pass law banning all forms of discrimination
#GCC
People in the Emirates could face more than 10 years in prison under new legislation if they discriminate against others
Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan (AFP)
Monday 20 July 2015 10:08 UTC
The United Arab Emirates on Monday passed legislation outlawing all forms of discrimination, according to an official press release.
The new law bans “any form of discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, colour or ethnic origin,” said a statement from the WAM news agency.
People who violate the law will be punished with prison sentences ranging from six months to more than 10 years, as well as fines from $13,600 to $545,000.
President Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan passed the new law, which includes provisions prohibiting “any act that would be considered as insulting God, his prophets or apostles or holy books or houses of worship or graveyards”.
The law will ban people from using “any form of media” to spread “hate speech or the promotion of discrimination or violence against others”.
“It also bars any kind of events such as conferences and meetings within the UAE organised with the sole purpose of sowing seeds of discrimination, discord or hatred against individuals or groups on the basis of faith, origin or race. Receiving financial support for such activities is also punishable under the new law,” WAM reported.
Human RIghts Watch warned that the new law could be used to stifle free speech, and that the law would not necessarily be used to crack down on prejudice in the country.
"The concern is clearly that it will be used to further stifle speech under the guise of promoting tolerance," Nicholas McGeehan, Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Middle East Eye.
The official news agency said that if those violating the law hand themselves into the relevant authorities then the courts may “waive penalties in such cases”.
The UAE has remained mercifully free from attacks in recent years, while surrounding countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have suffered deadly bombings claimed by the Islamic State group.
The government has long spoken of the Emirates being a place of tolerance, where more than 200 nationalities live and work together harmoniously, in a region racked by violence and division.
However, the wealthy Gulf state has also been criticised by human rights groups for failing to adequately protect the rights of migrant workers – who make up around 90 percent of the 9 million population.
Human Rights Watch's McGeehan said: "The context to this law is the UAE’s draconian assault on free expression and a judicial system which is under the de facto control of the executive.
"I don’t think that in the current climate that this will help the UAE be more inclusive."
The UAE has largely escaped changes brought about by popular uprisings that swept the region beginning in 2011, save a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood activists and a failed attempt at a palace coup by a senior prince. The rulers have moved to tighten up security, with the interior ministry having developed a far-reaching surveillance system installed by an Israeli-owned company.
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UAE sentences 5 Qataris to jail for insulting Emirati leaders
May 19th, 2015 Dallas Clarke
An Emirati court has jailed five Qatari intelligence officers for insulting the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, local media said Tuesday.
The State Security court sentenced Ali al-Hammadi, who is the only defendant in custody, to 10 years in jail, and fined him one million dirhams ($272,000), Ittihad newspaper reported.
The four others who remain at large were sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
The Qataris were convicted of organising an online campaign to insult UAE leaders, according to the paper.
Hammadi was first accused of being a spy for Qatar when he was arrested in June last year, at the height of a diplomatic row between Qatar and the UAE over Doha’s support to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with Bahrain, recalled their envoys from Doha in March 2014 in an unprecedented move triggered by Qatar’s alleged meddling in the internal affairs of its Gulf neighbours.
But the ambassadors returned to their posts in December after the fellow monarchies appeared to have ironed out their differences.
Source Article from http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-sentences-5-qataris-jail-insulting-emirati-leaders-1568124482
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