UAE activist Ahmed Mansoor marks 9 years behind bars

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UAE human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor marks 9 years behind bars

March 20, 2026

UAE activist Ahmed Mansoor marks 9 years behind bars — Ahmed Mansoor, prominent Emirati human rights defender, UAE, 2015. Photo: Screengrab/video/ Martin Ennals Award’s YT channel/via DubaiDiplomacy.com

DUBAI,— Today, March 20, marks the ninth year since the arrest of prominent Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor, who continues to remain in prison under lengthy sentences widely criticized internationally as politically motivated, according to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center.

Ahmed Mansoor Al Shehhi is an Emirati blogger and reform activist known for his human rights advocacy and criticism calling for political change in the United Arab Emirates.

He was first arrested in 2011 in connection with the UAE Five case and was convicted on charges of defamation and insulting heads of state through online posts.

The case involved allegations that he insulted UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

He and the other defendants were later pardoned by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed.

Mansoor holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in telecommunications from the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States.

In 2012, while in his third year of law school, he was physically attacked and was forced to suspend his studies.

Since 2006, he has focused on initiatives supporting free expression and civil and political rights.

In 2006 and 2007, he led a campaign supporting two bloggers who had been jailed for critical comments about social conditions.

The campaign succeeded, leading to their release and the dropping of charges. Soon after, the prime minister issued an order banning imprisonment of journalists for their work.

Prison jail UAE, 2015 — A prison in UAE, 2015. Photo: Screengrab/video/ Martin Ennals Award’s YT channel/via DubaiDiplomacy.com

In 2009, he opposed a draft media law that he said violated freedom of opinion and information. A resulting petition urged the president not to approve it, and the proposal was subsequently suspended.

He was among the initiators of the March 3, 2011 petition calling for democratic reform of the UAE parliament.

Shortly after, he was arrested with four others linked to a discussion forum in a case known as “UAE5.”

He was accused of publicly insulting UAE authorities and was sentenced to three years in prison, but received a presidential pardon the day after the verdict after nearly eight months in detention.

Mansoor has also written on stateless people known in the region as Bidun.

He serves on the advisory board of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa division and on the advisory committee of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights.

He received the 2012 Hellman/Hammett Prize, which supports individuals who lost jobs due to human rights work, and the Martin Ennals Award 2015 for Human Rights Defenders.

Mansoor arrested for the second time

In March 2017, Mansoor was arrested again, accused of using social media platforms to threaten public order and publish false and misleading information.

He was later convicted of threatening state security and sentenced in March 2018 to ten years in prison and fined 1,000,000 Emirati dirham after more than a year in detention, much of it in solitary confinement.

United Nations human rights experts described the arrest and imprisonment as a direct attack on the work of human rights defenders in the country.

In April 2019, Human Rights Watch raised concerns about his health after he began a hunger strike to protest what he called unjust imprisonment and called for his release.

In June 2021, the Gulf Center for Human Rights filed a complaint in France’s courts accusing Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi of responsibility in alleged torture related to Mansoor’s detention.

Martin Ennals Award’s YT channel.

In July 2021, Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights expressed concern after a private letter from Mansoor was published by a London-based Arabic news site describing his treatment.

The letter said he was held incommunicado since 2017, isolated from other prisoners, denied a bed and mattress, and kept in indefinite solitary confinement without meaningful contact with family.

The same month, Mansoor was identified as a target of the Pegasus spyware used to monitor selected individuals.

On September 17, 2021, European Union lawmakers called on the United Arab Emirates to release Mansoor and other activists without conditions.

The EU resolution said Emirati authorities violated his rights for more than 10 years through arbitrary arrest, detention, threats, assault, surveillance, and inhumane treatment in custody.

In July 2024, Mansoor was sentenced by the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court to 15 years in prison.

On March 4, 2025, the Federal Supreme Court State Security Department rejected appeals from 53 people convicted in the UAE84 case, including Mansoor.

Human Rights Watch said on March 4, 2025 that an Emirati court upheld the 15-year sentence after what it called a fundamentally unfair trial.

He has remained in detention through multiple legal proceedings over more than a decade, drawing repeated calls from rights organizations for his release.

Supporters and international groups continue to describe his case as involving allegations of unfair trial procedures and prolonged solitary confinement.

His case has been repeatedly referenced in international discussions on digital surveillance and the treatment of activists in the Gulf region.

Legal proceedings in his case have included multiple charges related to online speech and alleged threats to state security authorities.

He remains in prison today. Calls for release continue.

(With files from wikipedia, hrw.org , edacrights com, martinennalsaward.org)