Dig Deeper

2011

The UAE Five

The Arab Spring. As telecommunication engineer and blogger, Ahmed Mansoor facilitates an online discussion forum together with other activists, later known as the UAE Five. After signing a petition in favour of an elected parliament, he becomes target of an state-sponsored online smear campaign, followed by his arrest. Mansoor is convicted for ‘insults to the nation’s leadership’. International pressure leads to his release, but he loses his passport and right to employment.

2015

The 'Nobel Prize for Human Rights'

Mansoor is awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
The jury statement reads: ‘Mr Mansoor is one of the few voices within the United Arab Emirates who provides a credible independent assessment of human rights developments. He regularly raises concerns on arbitrary detention, torture, international standards for fair trials, non-independence of the judiciary and domestic laws that violate international law. He has faced repeated intimidation and harassment, including imprisonment in 2011 after being convicted of “insulting officials” and sentenced to three years in prison, although he was released after eight months. Since being jailed in 2011, he has been denied a passport and
banned from travelling.’

2016

The Million Dollar Dissident

Mansoor’s iPhone is targeted by expensive ‘lawful-intercept’ spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group. (Mansoor had been the target of several prior electronic attacks). A report by The Citizen Lab, University of Toronto questions the lack of accountability and regulation of sales of spyware developed in democracies to countries with records of serious human rights violations.

2017, March 20

The Last Emirati Human Rights Activist

Mansoor is once again detained on the orders of The Public Prosecution for Cybercrimes, on charges of ‘promoting false and shaded information through the Internet and serving agendas aimed at spreading hatred and sectarianism on social media’ (Emirates News Agency). He is taken from his home in Ajman to the Central Prison in Abu Dhabi.

2018, May

10 Years for a Tweet

The court sentences Ahmed Mansoor to 10 years in prison and a fine of one million Emirati Dirham, and orders him be placed under surveillance for three years after his release.
An appeal is turned down on December 31st.

December 2023

Ongoing Solitary Confinement as Torture

In Ahmed Mansoor's 7th year of solitary confinement, - without bed, sun light, or human contact - new charges of 'establishing a clandestine terrorist organisation' are brought against him, and others. 
A secret mass trial of the 'UAE 84' begins to unfold.  

JULY 2024
The 'UAE 84' are convicted, with many receiving life sentences. Ahmed Mansoor is sentenced to an additional 15 years imprisonment.

TUESDAY 4 MARCH 2025 
The Federal Supreme Court rejects Ahmed Mansoor's appeal, and that of 52 other defendants in the UAE84 case.
He spends his 2,906th day in isolation while being denied basic rights and medical treatment.