Mahmood Al-Hosani

Background and Work

Mahmood Al-Hosani, born in 1980, established himself as a journalist and media entrepreneur in the United Arab Emirates. He founded Smart Media and contributed to a range of television and radio projects. In 2010, he served as the official spokesperson and public relations officer for Sharjah Transport, a public-sector role that placed him at the intersection of government communication and media.

Al-Hosani was also a member of the Dubai Press Club, a professional association for journalists working in the UAE's tightly regulated media environment. His work spanned institutional communications, independent media production, and civic engagement.

The Petition and Arrest

In March 2011, a group of 133 Emirati citizens—including academics, judges, lawyers, students, and human rights defenders—signed a petition addressed to the President of the UAE and the Federal Supreme Council. The petition called for democratic reforms, including the direct election of the Federal National Council and expanded legislative powers. The signatories made their appeal publicly, within existing constitutional channels.

The UAE State Security Apparatus responded with arrests. Mahmood Al-Hosani was arrested on 16 July 2012. Security forces raided his home without an arrest warrant, searched the premises, and confiscated his phone and laptop. He was taken to a secret detention location and held incommunicado for eight months. His family received no information about his whereabouts or condition until he appeared in court in March 2013.

The UAE94 Trial and First Sentence

Al-Hosani was among ninety-four defendants brought before the Federal Supreme Court in what became known as the UAE94 trial, the largest mass trial in the country's history at that time. On 27 January 2013, the defendants were formally charged under article 180 of the penal code with founding, organising, and administering an organisation aimed at overthrowing the government.

On 2 July 2013, the court convicted sixty-one of the ninety-four defendants. Al-Hosani was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. The trial proceeded without adequate guarantees of due process. Defendants reported prolonged incommunicado detention, allegations of torture and coerced confessions, and denial of effective legal representation.

Indefinite Detention and the UAE84 Retrial

Al-Hosani's seven-year sentence ended in July 2019. He was not released. Instead, authorities invoked the UAE's Counter-Terrorism Law and the Munasaha Centre Law—legislation governing a so-called "counselling" or "rehabilitation" centre—to extend his detention indefinitely, citing unspecified "rehabilitation needs." No new charges were filed, and no judicial review authorised the extended detention beyond the original sentence.

On 7 December 2023, a new mass trial opened before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal. Al-Hosani was retried alongside dozens of other UAE94 defendants on new terrorism charges. The prosecution alleged that he had founded, established, and managed the Justice and Dignity Committee "with the aim of committing terrorist acts on the country's soil." On 10 July 2024, the court sentenced Al-Hosani to life imprisonment—equivalent under UAE law to twenty-five years. This was the UAE's second-largest unfair mass trial, known as the UAE84 case. Fifty-three defendants received sentences ranging from ten years to life.

The proceedings violated fundamental fair-trial standards. Defendants were denied effective legal representation, held in prolonged incommunicado detention, and subjected to trial in a system that afforded no meaningful right of appeal from the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal, whose verdicts are final.

Detention Conditions and Family Targeting

Al-Hosani is held in Al-Razeen prison in Abu Dhabi, a maximum-security facility where conditions are known to be harsh and access to family and legal counsel severely restricted. The prolonged incommunicado detention he endured in 2012 and 2013 amounted to enforced disappearance.

The UAE authorities extended repression to his family. They revoked the citizenship of his children, rendering them stateless. In 2017, officials pressured his wife to file for divorce, promising that if she complied, the children's citizenship would be restored and the family would be provided with housing. The revocation of citizenship and coercion of family members constitute transnational and familial targeting, tactics used to punish defenders and coerce compliance.

International Response

Human rights organisations have repeatedly documented the abuses in the UAE94 and UAE84 trials and called for the immediate release of all those convicted on politically motivated charges. Al-Hosani's case exemplifies the UAE's systematic use of counter-terrorism legislation to silence peaceful dissent, its disregard for due process, and its willingness to extend punishment to defendants' families. His detention beyond the expiry of his original sentence, followed by retrial on new charges for the same underlying conduct, constitutes double jeopardy and arbitrary detention.