decision to revoke citizenship were deemed sovereign, it would still need to be grounded in the law, which was not the case.60 In response to al-Roken’s appeal, the authorities arrested him on 16 July, with his son and brother-in-law, just two weeks prior to the scheduled first session before the Court of Appeal. This arrest prompted the UN to urge the UAE to ensure the protection of rights defenders: The spokesperson of the OHCHR stated that “it appears that national security is increasingly being used as a pretext to clamp down on peaceful activism, to stifle calls for constitutional reform and on human rights issues such as statelessness. A number of activists openly critical of the Government have been arbitrarily deprived of their Emirati nationality.”61 Human rights NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for the immediate and unconditional release of these prisoners of conscience, stating that “the authorities are holding the men solely on account on their affiliation with a non-violent political group and their peaceful criticism of the government.”62 The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Court of First Instance on 12 November 2012, where the ruling was pronounced while the plaintiffs and the lawyer were in prison.63 3.1.2 Other UAE94 members and their families Moreover, throughout 2012, the UAE’s State Security Apparatus (SSA)64 initiated a brutal campaign of arrests against the individuals who signed the petition calling for democratic reforms, many of whom were members of al-Islah.65 The SSA subjected those arrested to secret and prolonged incommunicado detentions and severe acts of torture.66 On 7 January 2013, the 94 defendants, among them the UAE7, all of whom had signed the petition, were charged with founding, organising, and administering an organisation aimed at overthrowing the government. This trial marked the UAE’s largest political mass trial. At the conclusion of the trial on 2 July 2013, 69 defendants were convicted and 25 acquitted. Many were sentenced to 10 years and others to 7 years imprisonment. Defendants who were tried in absentia, as they were not in the country, received 15 years of imprisonment, prompting the UAE to initiate extradition Ibid. UN News, UN calls on United Arab Emirates to guarantee protection of rights defenders, 17 July 2012, https://news.un.org/en/story/2012/07/415722 (accessed on 2 May 2024). 62 Human Rights Watch, United Arab Emirates: End Arrests; Free Political Activists: Stop Crackdown on Freedom of Expression, Association, 30 April 2012, https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/30/unitedarab-emirates-end-arrests-free-political-activists (accessed on 2 May 2024). 63 EDAC, “‫”اذكد أاب دياصالا أقااقب ديسنجلخ ديارامدلا‬, December 2021, https://edacrights.com/post/293 (accessed on 2 May 2024). 64 MENA Rights Group, The UAE State Security Apparatus: A tool of repression against dissenting voices, December 2022, https://menarights.org/sites/default/files/202212/Mena%20Rights%20Group_SSA%20Public%20Report.pdf (accessed on 2 May 2024). 65 Amnesty International, “There is no Freedom Here” Silencing Dissent in the United Arab Emirates, 2014, p.6, https://www.amnesty.be/IMG/pdf/emirats_arabes_unis_-_18_11_2014.pdf (accessed on 2 May 2024). 66 FIDH, United Arab Emirates: criminalising dissent UAE 94 trial deeply flawed, August 2013, pp. 4-5, 16-19, https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/report_uae94_uk.pdf (accessed on 2 May 2024). 60 61 15 Citizenship stripping in the UAE