UN Working group on Arbitrary detention declared the detention of two Jordanian arbitrarily
Geneva, 29th August 2018
On the 14 th August 2018, the UN Working group on Arbitrary detention (WGAD) declared the detention of two Jordanian IT professionals – living and working in the same office in Abu Dhabi – arbitrary (opinion 3/2018).
The WGAD noted « that the present opinion is only one of several opinions in which the Working Group has found the Government of the United Arab Emirates in violation of its international human rights obligations » and recalled that the UAE have “ the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to liberty of person” and that “any national law allowing deprivation of liberty should be made and implemented in conformity with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other applicable international or regional instruments ”.
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As a reminder, Mr. Bahaa Mattar was arrested on 14 October 2015 from his work office and Mr. Maher Abu Shawareb was arrested on 30 October 2015 at his home.
They were both arrested by the State security forces, without any arrest warrant and without being informed of the reason for their detention. Transferred to an unknown location – where they were secretly detained for 3 months – they were tortured in order to obtain self-incriminating confessions. Particularly, the victims reported having been beaten all over their body, forced into stress positions for hours, threatened with rape. They also had to sign false confessions without being allowed to read the document.
After having passed three months without any contact with the outside world, they were transferred to Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi, where, for the first time, they have been allowed to call their families and informed them of their whereabouts. This is also only more than a year and a half after their arrest, that Mr. Maher Abu Shawareb and Mr. Bahaa Mattar were brought before the prosecutor for the first time and charged.
On 26 December 2017, accused of terrorism, both were sentenced by the Federal Court of Appeal to 10 years in prison and a fine of one million dirhams (300,000 USD) on the sole basis of their confessions extracted under torture after an unfair trial during which any of their legal guarantees were respected.
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In the opinion, the Working Group considered “that the arrest and prolonged incommunicado detention of Mr. Bahaa Mattar and Mr. Maher Abu Shawareb by the State Security Department lack any legal basis and may amount to torture” in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.
Moreover, WGAD experts informed that they will refer the case to the Special Rapporteur on torture for appropriate action and urged the UAE to instantly take the necessary measures to remedy the situation of Mr. Maher Mattar and Mr. Maher Abu Shawareb in order to bring into conformity with the international standards.
