UAE: Emirati blogger’s 10-year jail sentence upheld

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is dismayed by the decision of the authorities in the United Arab Emirates to confirm blogger and human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor’s disproportionate ten-year jail sentence and fine of $270,000. Mansoor received this extremely harsh sentence on 30 May on a charge of “sullying the status and prestige of the UAE […]

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is dismayed by the decision of the authorities in the United Arab Emirates to confirm blogger and human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor’s disproportionate ten-year jail sentence and fine of $270,000.

Mansoor received this extremely harsh sentence on 30 May on a charge of “sullying the status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols” and posting false information on social networks.

In 2011, he was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting the UAE’s leaders online” but was pardoned three months later after international pressure.

RSF condemns this ten-year jail term in the strongest possible terms and calls for Mansoor’s immediate and unconditional release.

One professional journalist and two citizen-journalists are currently detained in the UAE, which is ranked 128th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index. (RSF)