LONDON – A prominent human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been jailed for ten years for criticising the government on social media, Amnesty International UK reported on Thursday.
Announcing the verdict, a local court also imposed a fine of 1 million AED ($272,000) for his anti-government posts on Facebook and Twitter.
The activist was sentenced at the State Security Chamber of the Federal Appeal Court in Abu Dhabi this Tuesday, with news not revealed until yesterday.
Mansoor was among five activists convicted of those charges in 2011 amid the Arab Spring protests, calling for reform in other Arab states.
Ahmed Mansoor was reportedly convicted of “publish[ing] false information, rumours and lies about the UAE” which “would damage the UAE’s social harmony and unity.”
Mansoor was also charged with “cooperating with a terrorist organisation operating outside the country” – but was acquitted on this charge.
Amnesty International has described the sentence as a devastating blow to freedom of expression in the country.
Mansoor had been detained since March last year and held mostly in solitary confinement. His place of detention was never officially confirmed and he was granted only two family visits.
Mansoor’s trial began in mid-March this year and continued at a hearing on 11 April (a third hearing may have taken place on 9 May but there has been no confirmation of this).
