Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan with Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt REUTERS
The British government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates over media PR, while British national Matthew Hedges was being held in solitary confinement in an Emirates’ state security prison for researching his PhD thesis in the country.
Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, has expressed concern about the implications of the MOU, and said that rather than devoting its energy to helping the UAE improve its image, the British government should be focused on preventing the abuse of its citizens who have been wrongly detained in the Emirates.
“It is quite troubling that the UK would enter into this agreement at the very moment that a British citizen was being falsely accused and imprisoned.” she said.
The MOU’s stated goal is to “improve the perception of public services for the general public, in Dubai and the United Kingdom”.
According to Stirling, this indicates more than merely helping the UAE to better explain facets of the government to the public;
“There is clearly an aim of improving the way the British people perceive the UAE,” she said.
“This comes after several high profile cases of UK citizens abused by the Emirate’s justice system; people like Jamie Harron and Billy Barclay, and of course Matthew Hedges, whose lives were turned upside-down by false accusations and flawed prosecutions.
“Cases like these have palpably diminished the UAE’s reputation among the British public, and it seems with this MOU that the UK government has taken upon itself the task of damage control on behalf of the Emirates. Just since this MOU was signed, we have seen British veteran Andrew Neal prosecuted in a drugs case in which, not only is there no evidence of guilt, but indeed all evidence proves his innocence; and we have seen the case of another British national, Ali Issa Ahmed, beaten and jailed for wearing a Qatar football jersey. Furthermore, while Matthew Hedges was pardoned, he was never cleared of the fabricated allegations against him.
“If the UK government is going to help the British public learn about the services provided by the UAE government, will they then include information about the falsification of evidence, the use of torture, the detention without trial, and the ability of creditors to have people thrown into jail indefinitely for bounced cheques?
“These are among the ‘services’ offered by the UAE government about which most British citizens need to be made aware.”
As head of Detained in Dubai, Stirling explained that she has been involved in thousands of cases of British nationals in the UAE, and that media coverage of their plight and active intervention by the FCO is often required to resolve wrongful detentions. She said the MOU may undermine such efforts in the future.
What is needed, Stirling said, is greater cooperation between the UK and UAE to improve the country’s standards of due process and legal system; not PR assistance.
Radha Stirling is founder and CEO of UK / USA based legal and human rights organisation Detained in Dubai, Expert Witness and respected analyst of Middle East Policy.
