Alaa al-Siddiq, a prominent dissident Emirati rights activist and critic, has died in a car crash near London.
Alaa was the executive director of the United Kingdom-based ALQST, a non-profit organisation that advocates for greater freedoms and human rights in the UAE and the wider Gulf region.
She was the daughter of Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al Siddiq, and hailed from a pious Muslim family.
Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq is a prisoner of conscience serving a 10-year sentence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following his conviction in the controversial 2013 trial against 94 political dissidents known as the UAE94. The notorious mass trial, which failed to meet minimum international fair trial standards, has been widely criticized by human rights organisations and UN human rights bodies.
Two years earlier, al-Siddiq had his citizenship arbitrarily revoked as punishment after he signed the 2011 petition calling for legislative reforms in the UAE to ensure fair elections of the Federal National Council.
In March 2016, the Emirati authorities went a step further and also revoked the citizenship of his three children, leaving them stateless and without identity documents. Without official documents, they are unable to visit their father in Abu Dhabi’s al-Razeen prison.
The UAE's systematic targeting of political prisoners' families is part of its ruthless crackdown on freedom of speech and civil society in the country.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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