Mohamed Abdullah AL-ROKEN
Writer, academic, and human rights lawyer imprisoned for to his dissenting views
Mohamed Al-Roken is an Emirati writer, academic and human rights lawyer known for his expertise in human rights law and counter-terrorism. He has been arbitrarily imprisoned in the UAE since 2012 for his calls for democratic reforms and elections in the country.
Dr Mohammad Abdullah Al-Roken continued to be held arbitrarily serving a life sentence after he was convicted in July 2024, along with 42 others, following a grossly unfair trial notoriously known as UAE 84. He has been held since his arrest on 17 July 2012 and has been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. On 4 March 2025, the State Security Branch of the UAE’s Federal Supreme Court upheld his and the other defendants’ convictions.
The defendants, including Dr Al-Roken, were convicted on 10 July 2024 of bogus ‘charges’ of ‘establishing’ and ‘supporting’ a terrorist group, in relation to their alleged links to the Justice and Dignity Committee, a group of government critics who between 2011 and 2012 called for the respect of human rights in the UAE (see Case Lists 2014 – 2025). Most, if not all, including Al-Roken, were previously convicted of similar vague charges in the notorious ‘UAE 94’ trial. Many of this group, including Al-Roken, were being held after expiry of their sentences under a law permitting indefinite detention for ‘rehabilitation’ when news of the fresh charges broke on 10 December 2023 (World Human Rights Day) during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. (see Case Lists 2014-2025). PEN International has long campaigned for his release, including by highlighting his imprisonment in the 2021 Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign.
Human rights organisations said in June that two of Al Roken’s sons were detained in April for unknown reasons and held in an undisclosed location without access to a lawyer or family members.
Dr Mohamed Abdullah Al-Roken, born 26 September 1962, is a prominent Emirati writer, academic and human rights lawyer specialising in freedom of expression and counter-terrorism. He was a member of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), the International Bar Association, and is the former president of the dissolved UAE Jurists Association.