On 18 September 2016, the Emirati President issued Decree Law No. 7 of 2016 amending the UAE Penal Code (PC). The decree, which amends 132 existing articles and adds 34 new articles to the PC, endangers basic rights including the right to life and the right to freedom of opinion and expression as well as the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

On 26 September 2013, Mohamad Az, a Syrian national and a long-time resident of the United Arab Emirates was arrested while driving with his mother from Al Dhaid to Dubai by officers dressed in civilian clothes, who drove him blindfolded to his house and searched it without a warrant. Az was then detained in secret detention for four months during which time he was coerced into confessing his support to Ahrar Al Sham. Az had been commenting developments in his hometown in Syria since the beginning of the conflict.

On 30 May 2016, the State Security Chamber of the Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates has acquitted Salim Alaradi and two co-accused after 642 days in detention. While the Security Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed Alaradi's innocence, he was not allowed to leave the Court free, but was taken back to prison by the State Security forces.

Alkarama regrets that, despite several attempts to request the Emirati authorities to release him, Jordanian citizen Rami Shaher Abdel Jalil Al Mrayat is to serve his full sentence in the Al Wathba prison, in spite of the fact that he is being arbitrarily detained.

Credit photo: Yochi Dreazen On 27 April 2016, Alkarama seized the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (UNSRT) to, once more, request their intervention with the Emirati authorities on the case of known activist Dr Naser Bin Ghaith. After a nearly eight-month-disappearance, which started on 18 August 2015, Dr Bin Ghaith was taken before the State Security Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi on 4 April 2016. He had a closed hearing at the court, which only his family could attend. While he was allowed to have a lawyer present, Dr Bin Ghaith was not permitted to talk to him or to meet him in private before the hearing.

Jordanian journalist Taysir Hasan Mahmoud Salman was supposed to fly from the United Arab Emirates, where he currently lives, to Jordan on vacation on 3 December 2015; however, he was prevented from boarding his flight by the airport authorities. Ten days later, on 13 December, Taysir Salman was contacted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Abu Dhabi, which requested him to go to their building to be informed of the reasons why he was not allowed to leave the country. Upon arrival, around 7pm, Taysir was arrested by members of the State Security Forces and taken to an unknown location.

On 2 February 2016, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues (SR Minority), Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, asking her to call upon the Emirati authorities not to deport two Chinese citizens from the Uyghur Muslim Community, who could face the death penalty back in their country. Arrested in the United Arab Emirates in between June and July 2008 for their alleged involvement in terrorist acts, both men, who are to be released on 13 April 2016, face deportation to China, where they are likely to be retried and could be sentenced to death.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) recently adopted Opinion No. 51/2015, which recognises the arbitrary character of the detentions of Salim Alaradi and four other Libyan citizens, and requests the Emirati authorities to release them immediately. Almost two months later, however, the five men remain detained. While welcoming the WGAD Opinion, Alkarama is extremely concerned over their fate, especially after their recent appearance before the State Security Chamber in the Federal Supreme Court, where they were accused of terrorism-related charges.

On 15 September 2015, Alkarama requested the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to issue an Opinion declaring the arbitrary character of Osama Al Najjar's detention. Osama is a known Emirati blogger, who was arrested in March 2014 for defending his father, one of the defendants in the UAE 94 trial, the biggest mass political trial in the history of the United Arab Emirates against 94 political activists accused of having plotted to overthrow the government.

On 20 August 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the case of Naser Bin Ghaith, a prominent economist, academic and advocate for political reforms, who disappeared following his arrest by the UAE State Security forces on 18 August 2015. Alkarama is extremely concerned over his fate, in particular that he is at high risk of torture and ill-treatment, considering the systematic use of torture in secret detention in the UAE.