MOSCOW, November 25 (Sputnik) — The arrest and torture of a 25-year-old man, who called for the release of his father, a political activist, on Twitter by the United Arab Emirates authorities represent the country's deep intolerance for dissent, Amnesty International said in a statement on Tuesday.
"With this vindictive conviction, following a charade of a trial, the UAE authorities have again made crystal clear that when they don't like the message, their first line of defence is to smear and silence the messenger," Said Boumedouha, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the watchdog, was quoted as saying in the statement.
According to Amnesty International, the UAE state media described the act of Osama al-Najjar as a "terror attack" before he was found guilty of "instigating hatred against" the state, "designing and running a website [with] satirical and defaming ideas and information".
The group, however, emphasized that al-Najjar simply wanted to raise awareness of the ill-treatment his father was subjected to in prison, thus pressing for his release. In an earlier report, Amnesty noted that Hussain Ali al-Najjar al-Hammadi, al-Najjar's father, was taken into custody along with other members of the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah), a nonviolent political association advocating greater adherence to Islamic precepts.
"This should not be a crime, and Amnesty International has named both father and son as prisoners of conscience, who must be released immediately and unconditionally," the statement read.
According to the watchdog, Osama al-Najjar was detained on March 17, 2014 after 10 state security officers invaded his home, following a tweet to the UAE's Interior Minister three weeks earlier. He was subsequently prevented from any contact with family members or a lawyer, followed by torture and ill-treatment during night-long interrogations. Al-Najjar was also threatened with electric shocks if he opted not to "cooperate" as well as with the detention of his mother and the younger members of his family.
