CAIRO: The UAE is jailing activists. The Arab Spring has engendered fears in Arab nations that have not yet capitulated to the calls for democracy and reformation across North Africa and the Middle East. Five activists in Dubai were jailed for signing an online petition. They were kept in custody for months before being give a pardon. Shortly afterwards, seven political activists were stripped of their citizenship by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE. More recently, a crack-down on free speech came after the arrest of Saleh AlDhufairi, an Islamist calling for change. In his last tweet , AlDhufairi (@SalehAlDhufairi) wrote that he was being arrested at his house in Ras Al-Khaimaa. According to the Dubai Police statement, “Al Dhafairi has been accused of incitement through writing or verbally spreading ideas that damage national unity or social peace.” The spokesman confirmed that Al Dhafairi will be referred to the Attorney General after 48 hours, stressing that ‘the law punishes sedition-makers'. He also stressed that this is considered a federal offense. In response, Al-Islah Islamic group issued a statement condemning the arrest of AlDhafairi saying those arrests will not stop their demands and that they refuse the acts of stripping citizens off their citizenship or arresting them. Al-Islah indicated that AlDhafairi asked for his arrest memo, and in response, state security police broke into his house and arrested him. Details continue to emerge. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/0pFFB Tags: Activist, For Tweet, Jailed, UAE Section: Human Rights, Latest News, United Arab Emirates
