Three Libyan men detained, at risk of torture

Two Libyan men, Mo’ad Mohammad al-Hashmi and ‘Adel Rajeb Nasif, were arrested by United Arab Emirates (UAE) security officials in September 2014. A third Libyan man, ‘Issa al-Manna’, was arrested on or around 12 March 2015. The three men have been subjected to enforced disappearance and may be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

Mo’ad Mohammad al-Hashmi al-Harari, aged 27, was arrested on 28 September while visiting the UAE to renew his residency permit which was about to expire, and was going to travel back to Libya the next day. His family in Libya have since been told that he was seen being escorted out of a coffee shop by three or four security officials. ‘Adel Rajeb Nasif, aged 45, lived with his family in Dubai and was arrested on or around 20 September when they were away visiting Tripoli. Another Libyan man, ‘Issa al-Manna’, who is 65 years old, has also been detained.

The UAE authorities have not disclosed any information regarding the three businessmen’s whereabouts or any information about their arrest. The men have been subjected to enforced disappearance, which is a crime under international law.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The UAE authorities have arrested dozens of foreign nationals in recent years. Many have been subjected to enforced disappearance, held in secret locations by officials who refuse to acknowledge their detention or give any information to their families, such as the reasons for their detention, where they are being held, and in what conditions. The authorities have also denied them access to legal counsel. Such treatment violates the UAE’s own laws, as well as international law. Many of those arrested have been held in solitary confinement and have claimed they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated during interrogation.
At least 10 other Libyan men were arrested in August and September 2014 and subjected to enforced disappearance. Four of them were released in December (see UA 236/14).
Following a visit to the UAE in February 2014, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriella Knaul, said that she had not been allowed to visit prisons as part of her fact-finding mission. In a press conference she added that she had not been allowed to meet with certain detainees but had received credible information and evidence that detainees had been arrested without warrant, blindfolded, taken to unknown places and held incommunicado, sometimes for months. She called on the government to establish an independent investigation into allegations of torture in the UAE.
On 16 February 2015, government-owned newspaper The National reported that the UAE government had adopted 36 recommendations made by the Human Rights Department of the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs after it carried out a study of international reports on the country’s human rights performance. The online newspaper said one of the recommendations was that an independent committee be established to review all allegations of torture. However, the report disappeared from The National’s website the day after it had been published, which is discouraging.
Amnesty International documented some cases of foreign nationals detained in its November 2014 report «There is no freedom here» – Silencing dissent in the United Arab Emirates, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE25/018/2014/en.

Names: Mo’ad Mohammad al-Hashmi, ‘Adel Rajeb Nasif, ‘Issa al-Mana’