Amnesty International report untrue: Abu Dhabi Attorney General

The Attorney General of Abu Dhabi,  Ali Mohammed Abdullah Al Balushi, has dismissed Amnesty International's recent report entitled 'UAE: Ruthless crackdown on dissent exposes ugly reality beneath facade of glitz and glamour', published on November 18, as untrue, saying it fell short of the minimum levels of credibility as it has failed to verify the information and facts it received from its sources, publishing them as is without any corroborating evidence and with the aim of offending the UAE.

In his statement, Al Balushi dismissed Amnesty International's claims of torture in prisons as untrue, saying that the UAE is party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and that it ranked first in the region and 13th internationally on the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2014.

This ranking, Al Balushi noted, was attained by the UAE through its legislative and executive efforts as well as the highest practices that refute the claims of the sources of the international watchdog's report on the state of prisons in the UAE.

The Public Prosecution, according to the law, supervises and controls these punitive institutions, and also inspects, follows up and investigates each and every complaint filed by any inmate.

It also does a periodical review of the logs of prisons, hears and considers the demands of inmates.

It also assesses the conditions of the places of inmates to ensure that they are appropriate and clean, and inspects the quality of their food and checks their medical records to ensure that they received proper healthcare and that all humane standards are met.

The Attorney General of Abu Dhabi said, "The Public Prosecution is the authority that issues permits for visiting the inmates of the punitive institutions, and it does so in compliance with rules that are clearly defined by the law."

"There are no persons who are still in the UAE prisons after having been acquitted of charges or after having served their full terms," he said.

According to the statistics of the Public Prosecution, 1,190 prisoners were visited in 2011, 1,330 in 2012 and 1,256 in 2013. Ninety periodical inspections were conducted at the punitive and correctional institutions in 2011, 97 in 2012 and 106 in 2013.

In his response to Amnesty International's report, Al Balushi explained that the cases cited in the report are not relating to public opinion, rather they are crimes as described by the Constitution and the law.

All the practices that led to charging the defendants were crimes that damage the Federation's interests that are provided for in the law.

He stressed that all the procedures of investigation and conclusion were implemented according to the law, and that all the trials were transparent and public and were conducted in the presence of the defendants themselves, their lawyers and families, representatives of UAE media organisations and civil society organisations.

In the trials, the attorney-general further stressed, evidence, witnesses, technical reports and the defence teams' statements were all discussed in public and in front of the audience.

He noted that a number of the defendants were acquitted because of a lack of evidence, a fact that the Amnesty International's report does not cite, which means it did not do justice to the UAE and its legal system.

He cited a number of the rulings of the Supreme Federal Court where other courts did not uphold confessions under coercion, pressure or threat of any form.

Among those was Plea No. 144 on 15 January 2001 which states that any confessions attributed to the defendant are deemed invalid if there is any bribing or intimidation.

According to Plea No. 1 on 25 November 1984, Sharia Law states that confessions must be made voluntarily and out of a free will, and no confession made under physical or moral coercion of any form will not be upheld nor relied on even if it was true.

Concluding his comment on the Amnesty International report, Al Balushi explained that the behaviour which the UAE countered through the law and according to the highest international standards are the same that make the region suffer from the plights of division and disorder and cause the killing and displacement of thousands.

This, Al Balushi stressed, affirms the correctness of the position the UAE took early, and the wisdom of countering this behaviour and nipping them in the bud before they could exacerbate to damage the society in the UAE and all the residents in it.

"The facade of glitz and glamour of the UAE is a true reflection of an exceptional relationship between the rulers and their subjects in a state that has attained well-deserved excellence while losers committed themselves to generating lies based on illusions that are not supported by evidence or proofs," the Attorney-General of Abu Dhabi concluded. 

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