U.A.E. Rights Record in Spotlight as HRW Cancels Dubai Conference - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2014/01/23/u-a-e-rights-record-in-spotlight-as-hrw-cancels-dubai-conference
A Human Rights Watch press conference scheduled at a hotel in Dubai today was canceled because it lacked a government permit, a move the organization said underscored threats to freedom of speech in the United Arab Emirates.
HRW had planned to use the conference to publicize its annual report, which said the human rights situation in the U.A.E. was worsening.
(...)
Many people have been arrested and tried for allegedly being part of Muslim Brotherhood groups, including in the U.A.E., where 30 Egyptians and Emiratis were sentenced to terms of between three months and five years earlier this week. A new cybercrimes law has also ensnared numerous people, including an American who was sentenced along with several friends to a year in jail for producing a spoof video about a gang of combatants in Dubai. The American, Shezanne Cassim, was recently released and sent home.