Abu Dhabi, April 11: Police in the United Arab Emirates have arrested three human rights activists, who are members of political forums.
Nasser bin Ghaith, an Emirati writer who maintains a website, was detained on Sunday, activist Mohammed al-Mansoori said.
Another activist, Fahad Salem al-Shehhi, was also detained in his apartment in Ajman on Saturday, a day after the UAE police arrested Ahmed Mansoor.
Both activists are members of the online political forum Hewar, which has been blocked in the country, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Dubai police chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, told journalists Mansoor had been arrested in connection with a criminal case, UAE newspaper National quoted him as saying.
The Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of the detainees, saying the arrests are aimed at intimidating people who may wish to make public their demands for democratic reforms in the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation where most political activities are banned.
“We believe the detention of Ahmed Mansoor is aimed at scaring and intimidating others in the UAE who may wish to make public their demands for democratic reforms,” the group’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement on Sunday.
“While other governments in the region are discussing democratic reforms, the UAE government is digging in its heels and sticking to outmoded repressive ploys,” the statement read.
Last month, Mansoor and dozens of other UAE nationals signed a petition demanding constitutional and parliamentary changes.
The Arab world has been rocked by a wave of pro-democracy protests, which has toppled Egypt’s and Tunisia’s leaders and has sparked anti-government demonstrations in Bahrain, Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
——–Agencies