UAE: Urgent Appeal for Freedom of Human Rights Defender's Sons

Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) expresses grave concern over the continued incommunicado detention of Rashid and Salem Al-Roken, sons of prominent imprisoned Emirati human rights lawyer Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken.

 The two have been held without charge or contact since April 2025 by UAE State Security services.

WJWC views this act as a clear case of collective punishment and political reprisal, aimed at silencing the family of a leading advocate for justice and reform in the Gulf region. According to a source close to the family, both men were taken without official explanation and remain cut off from legal representation or contact with loved ones—violating basic due process rights and international legal standards.

This is not the first time Rashid Al-Roken has been targeted. In 2012, he was arrested alongside his father during a wave of repression against peaceful reformers. Although acquitted in 2013, he reportedly endured torture, enforced disappearance, and inhumane treatment. His renewed detention signals the UAE’s continued pattern of targeting not just dissidents, but their families, in stark defiance of international norms.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, a constitutional law scholar and former president of the UAE Jurists Association, has been imprisoned since 2012. Despite completing his sentence in 2022, he was retried and sentenced to life in prison in July 2024 in the mass “UAE 84” trial—alongside other well-known detainees such as Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansouri and Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Kayed Al-Qasimi. The charges stemmed from peaceful civil society work mischaracterized by the state as terrorism.

WJWC reiterates that targeting the relatives of political prisoners is a grave violation of international law, particularly Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantee protection from arbitrary detention, the right to liberty, and fair trial standards.

In light of these developments, WJWC calls on Emirati authorities to:

·         Immediately and unconditionally release Rashid and Salem Al-Roken;

·         Ensure they are transferred to a recognized facility and granted immediate access to legal counsel and family contact;

·         End the harassment and intimidation of families of political prisoners;

·         Uphold international legal obligations prohibiting arbitrary detention and torture;

·         Release Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken and all prisoners of conscience detained for peaceful expression or association.

These arrests are not isolated events but part of a broader campaign to criminalize dissent and dismantle civic space in the UAE. WJWC will continue to monitor the case and advocate for justice and accountability on behalf of the Al-Roken family and all victims of unlawful repression.