Abu Dhabi - The decision to commute the sentences of five activists recognizes that they should not have been prosecuted in the first place, but authorities should also expunge the convictions from their records, an international coalition of seven human rights organizations said today. On November 28, 2011, the United Arab Emirates president commuted the sentences by the Federal Supreme Court for "publicly insulting" UAE rulers.

(Abu Dhabi, November 28, 2011) – Yesterday's verdict by the United Arab Emirates' Federal Supreme Court condemning 5 activists to sentences from 2 to 3 years in prison is the result of a trial which does not conform with international norms for a fair trial. The panel of four foreign judges delivered the verdict in a ten-minute oral statement in court, sentencing Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent UAE reformer, to three years imprisonment and the rest to two years each for publicly insulting UAE authorities. The detainees have no right of appeal in the case.

Abdessalam Salim, 37, and Omar Akbar, 35, two Chinese Muslims (Uighurs) were arrested in June 2008 in Dubai with their spouses by the security forces of the state. After two years of solitary confinement, they were tried and sentenced by the Federal Supreme Court on 29 June 2010 to ten years in prison for terrorism, a decision that they were not able to appeal. Seized of the case, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN adopted Opinion 34/2011 on 1 September 2011 that confirmed the communications sent to the Group by Alkarama on 1 October 2009 and 19 August 2011 declaring the arbitrary nature of their detention and calling upon authorities to immediately liberate and compensate them.