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Union Supreme Court Judge Muhammad Abd al-Qadir extended the pretrial detentions of members of the UAE 94, a group of 94 individuals whom the UAE government prosecuted and jailed on charges of belonging to al-Islah, a political reform movement in the country.
During these legal proceedings, Abd al-Qadir ignored the detainees' credible allegations of torture, ordered their detention without charge or evidence, and disregarded due process guarantees and previous violations of UAE law.
UAE 94 members included Mohammed al-Roken, a prominent constitutional lawyer, and Abdulsalam Darwish al-Marzooqi, a public servant and father of six, both of whom remain imprisoned in the UAE. Abd al-Qadir authorized the extensions of their pretrial detention before prosecutors even charged the detainees with a crime and even though he knew that State Security officials held the detainees in an unofficial detention center, in violation of UAE law.
"Abd al-Qadir seems to have chosen his position and salary over his conscience," said Abdullah Alaoudh, Gulf Director at DAWN. "How else can one explain how Abd al-Qadir looked the other way when security forces brought tortured and ill-treated prisoners from secret detention facilities and punished the detainees instead of security forces?"
In many of the cases, including those of al-Roken and al-Marzooqi, Abd al-Qadir extended pretrial detentions without summoning the detainees or their lawyers, a violation of Article 110 of the UAE Criminal Procedure Law, which gives a defendant the right to be present at such hearings.These acts also violate international standards of due process. Nonetheless, Abd al-Qadir extended al-Marzooki's pretrial detention five times before UAE prosecutors charged him with a crime.
Abd al-Qadir also ignored credible evidence of torture and abuse of the detainees. During al-Marzooqi's last two pretrial detention extension hearings on December 10, 2012 and January 9, 2013, al-Marzooqi informed Abd al-Qadir of the torture and ill-treatment he was facing, but Abd al-Qadir did nothing to investigate al-Marzooqi's allegations or protect him.
See cases: Mohammed al-Roken and Abdulsalam Darwish al-Marzooqi.
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DAWN requested a response from Abd al-Qadir on February 7, 2022, but he has not replied as of publication.
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