UAE prisoner convicted in mass trial dies in prison

A UAE national who spent more than a decade behind bars over his political views has died in prison, according to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre. 

The centre said on Thursday that Ali Abdullah Fateh Ali Al-Khaja, a long-term detainee, died in his jail cell on Wednesday after 13 years behind bars, “leaving behind a family that waited for him for over a decade”, the statement said. 

Khaja died in Al-Razeen Prison. “He died in detention, far from his wife and children,” the statement added.

Khaja, who was born in 1966, faced “security harassment” in the UAE “because of his social activities and his affiliation with Eslah Society,” according to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre. 

The Eslah Society is an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood in Bahrain. But the centre was likely referring to Al-Islah, an Islamist political group affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in the UAE but has local supporters.

The UAE’s ruling Al Nahyan family views the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to their rule and has violently cracked down on its supporters for decades. 

No dissent

The UAE is known as a free-wheeling business hub, particularly Dubai, but the country tolerates no political dissent. 

Khaja was arrested in August 2012 at his home. He remained subject to enforced disappearance until he appeared before court. While in detention, he was subjected to various forms of torture, the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre said, including being placed in solitary confinement and subjected to intimidation. 

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In 2013, Khaja was charged along with 56 other people of being affiliated with a “secret illegal organization”. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with an additional three years of probation.

Khaja was scheduled for release in August 2022, but Emirati authorities continued to detain him and conducted another trial in 2024. 

Emirati courts have convicted dozens of UAE citizens and Arab expats of forming clandestine cells, including those connected to Al-Islah.

Khaja was brought before an Emirati court as a member of the “UAE 94” group. The so-called "UAE 94" included 94 activists who were prosecuted for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2012-2013. 

The 2013 trial, held at the peak of the Arab uprisings, was widely criticised by rights groups as grossly unfair. Lawyers, professors, activists, and students who had petitioned the government for democratic reforms were tried for plotting to overthrow it. 

The detainees were largely affiliated with the political reform party Al-Islah, whose approach was solely non-violent. But for some of the most high-profile dissidents, serving their sentence was not enough. The UAE tried several of them again in 2022-2023 under the vague terms of the 2014 anti-terror law, and extended their sentences, a report showed.