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H.E. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Fax: + 971 2 681 0680 11 January 2007 Your Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,
We are writing on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association in connection with Dr Muhammad al-Mansoori, lawyer and president of the Independent Jurists Association in the In its role as a dual membership organisation, comprising 30,000 individual lawyers and over 195 Bar Associations and Law Societies, the International Bar Association (IBA) influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession. Its Member Organisations cover all continents. The IBA’s Human Rights Institute works across the association, helping to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide. We understand that on 17 June, 2006, Muhammad Muharram Mohammad, a judge at the UAE’s Federal High Court, issued an arrest warrant and a travel ban against Muhammad al-Mansoori. According to Dr al-Mansoori, the warrant charged him with insulting the Public Prosecutor on the basis of his human rights advocacy. On 22 July, 2006, when an officer from the Zayed City Police, in
The facts of this case raise a number of concerns in connection with the rights that should be accorded all citizens of ‘All citizens of the Emirates, whatever the ethnic group, nationality or religion to which they belong equally enjoy the protection of the law’. Article 29 of the Constitution further provides that ‘freedom of movement and residence shall be guaranteed to citizens within the limits of law’. a) The above articles of the United Arab Emirates Constitution support Articles 11 and 27 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted by the Arab Standing Committee for Human Rights in January 2004. Article 11 of the Charter provides that ‘all persons are equal before the law and have the right to enjoy its protection without discrimination’. Under the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted in 1998 by the UN General Assembly, it is stated that individuals and associations have the right to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, to develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance, and to complain about the policies and actions of individual officials and governmental bodies with regard to violations of human rights. The Declaration also provides that states shall have the duty to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of [human rights defenders] against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary actions as a consequence of their legitimate effort to promote human rights. We would be grateful if you could provide any further information on the arrest warrant and travel ban issued against Dr al-Mansoori and we do look forward to your early response in this regard. Yours sincerely, Ambassador Emilio Càrdenas Justice Richard Goldstone Human Rights Institute Council Co-Chairs
CC: Muhammad bin Nakhira Al-Dhahiri, Minister of Justice |
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