- Target:
- Doctors
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.amnesty.org
PLEASE NOTE WE JUST WANT FELLOW DOCTORS TO SIGN THIS LETTER.
After a hearing on February 3rd, verdict is reserved until 3 March SO IT IS VITAL WE GET AS MANY DOCTORS TO SIGN BEFORE THEN.
If you are not a doctor, there are other things you CAN do by going to this Amnesty page: http://goo.gl/5C7aOG
FROM AMNESTY: Qatari medical doctor, Mahmood al-Jaidah, was arrested by plain clothes United Arab Emirates (UAE) security officials while in transit at Dubai International Airport on 26 February 2013. Held in solitary confinement for 210 days, he told his family in sporadic visits that he had been subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation and forced to ingest unidentified liquid. Denied routine access to a lawyer, he is due for trial on 4 November.
Father of eight children, Dr Mahmood al-Jaidah continues to be held in an unknown place by the UAE’s State Security, or Amn al-Dawla. It is believed that he is accused of providing 100,000 UAE Dirham (US$27,225) to members of the now-banned al-Islah (the Reform and Social Guidance Association), formerly a UAE-based organization loosely modeled on Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. It remains unclear whether he has been charged and what the exact charges contemplated or brought against him are.
He was not permitted to contact his family for 11 days after arrest, during which time he was not allowed to contact the UAE embassy for consular assistance. In April, Qatari lawyers and members of his family sought to meet him after the Qatar ambassador facilitated a meeting. The lawyers from Qatar were not permitted to meet with him.
In April 2013 Amnesty International wrote to the UAE authorities seeking information about Mahmood al-Jaidah and expressing concern over his fate but, has not received an a response. Since April 2013, members of his family have been able to visit him at least once a month. During these visits he told them of the verbal abuse and torture and other ill-treatment he said he faced. It is believed that he will stand trial with several UAE nationals on 4 November.
Since his arrest, Dr Mahmood al-Jaidah’s due process rights, including the right to a lawyer of one’s own choosing and his right to challenge the lawfulness of his detention, have been flouted.
SADLY ON 3/3/14 Dr Al-Jaidah was sentenced to 7 years with no right of appeal, so this petition has been closed.
Dr Mahmoud al-Jaidah was arrested on 26 February 2013 by plainclothes UAE security officials while in transit at Dubai International Airport and held in solitary confinement in secret detention for almost nine months until after his trial had started. He was also denied access to his lawyer until his trial began and his lawyer has been unable to obtain his case files.
He has been charged with having ties with al-Islah (Reform and Social Guidance Association), an association legally established in 1974 in the UAE where it has been engaged in peaceful social and political debate. Two members of al-Islah, who were witnesses at his trial sessions on 23 December and 30 December, told the court that they did not know who Dr Mahmoud al-Jaidah was and had never had any association with him.
He is facing, what Amnesty International, describe as an unfair trial in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with verdict reserved until March 3rd 2014. If convicted, he will have no right to appeal under UAE law. Amnesty International has been told that when he is taken back to prison after his trial sessions, he is strip-searched and forced to sit naked for some hours before being allowed to enter his cell, in an apparent attempt to humiliate him and lower his spirits. He has alleged that he was tortured (including beatings and sleep-deprivation) during this time.
His family, fearing reprisals, have not visited him in prison or attended his latest trial hearing, held on 30 December, since his son, Abdulrahman al-Jaidah, was arrested on 23 December for publicly campaigning for his release. Abdulrahman al-Jaidah was released the next day and escorted on a flight back to Qatar by state security officers after an interrogation by state security.
We agree with Amnesty that the authorities should immediately charge Dr al-Jaidah with an internationally recognizable offence or else release him. He must be granted a fair trial, including the right to be assisted by a lawyer of his own choosing and the right to an appeal. Any statement tainted with torture allegations should not be submitted as evidence, yet such allegations should be fully investigated impartially.
We are planning to submit this letter/petition on March 2nd as his next hearing is March 3rd when he may well be convicted with no prospect of appeal so this is URGENT.
References:
http://dohanews.co/amnesty-decries-humiliating-treatment-against-qatari-jailed-in-uae/
DOCUMENT - UAE: FURTHER INFORMATION: QATARI DOCTOR HARASSED IN UAE PRISON: MAHMOUD AL-JAIDAH - http://goo.gl/5C7aOG
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The To Call for the release or a fair trial of Dr Al-Jaidah petition to Doctors was written by Dr David Nicholl and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.