By Camilla Hall and Michael Peel in Abu Dhabi
Published: September 22 2011 16:59 | Last updated: September 22 2011 16:59
The United Arab Emirates is being urged to drop charges against five political activists on the eve of elections that critics see as only a tiny concession to the pro-democracy movements erupting around the Arab world.
The trial, slated for two days after Saturday’s poll, “undermines any claim that UAE authorities really want to expand political participation in the country”, Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said on Thursday.
The resource-rich and hereditary-ruled UAE is generally rated as one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, but its leaders are nonetheless having to absorb the lessons of the uprisings that have erupted in nations across the Arab world.
Results of the elections to the UAE’s consultative Federal National Council are due to be released on Monday as the trial of the five Emirati, pro-democracy activists resumes. The men, including Ahmed Mansoor, a blogger, and Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist who has taught at the Abu Dhabi-based Sorbonne University campus, were arrested five months ago and charged with publicly insulting the country’s rulers.
Mr Mansoor and Mr Ghaith face additional charges of undermining state security in co-operation with other powers, although no details of the charges or evidence in the closed trial have been released.
The men were detained after a petition signed by more than 100 nationals was delivered to the government, calling for the Federal National Council to be elected by all UAE nationals.
The number of eligible voters increased to 129,000 from about 7,000 in the last ballot five years ago, but this is still only a fraction of the UAE’s estimated 5.2m population, of which nationals are thought to constitute about 18 per cent. Of the 40 seats on the council only half are elected, with the remainder picked by the Emirates’ rulers.
The widening of the franchise was “below expectations” and is “too late and too little”, according to Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, professor of political science at Emirates University, who reckons a third of nationals feel the “time has come” for democracy.
Other Emiratis, some of whom have held pro-government protests outside the courtroom in the activists’ case, favour a slower approach to democratisation.
Dehrar Belhoul, a 46-year-old Dubai government employee and candidate in the federal national council polls, said: “We don’t need what is in America, we don’t need what is Britain, let’s work slowly and not rush it.”
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, UAE president, this week urged eligible voters to use their rights. Candidates have focused on jobs for Emiratis, women’s rights and cultural identity, though much of the campaigning has lacked detail.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f6de94e4-e520-11e0-9aa8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1YqEZXlit
