In January 2025, Egyptian activist Abdul Rahman Yusuf al-Qaradawi was detained in Lebanon and extradited to the UAE - despite not being an Emirati citizen.
For nearly two months, Qaradawi has been held in the UAE while his family and lawyers have been given no information as to where he is being detained or what charges he is facing.
But Qaradawi's case is not an anomaly, according to Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea. The UAE has used sweeping counterterrorism laws to criminalise freedom of expression, targeting political activists.
In an interview with Middle East Eye, Joey Shea, a researcher in the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch, explains how the UAE uses both domestic terrorism laws and regional cooperation with Arab states to silence criticism from dissidents.
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