The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) received reliable information that the two sons of prominent human rights defender Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken have been detained by the State Security Apparatus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Information from various sourced confirmed that his two sons Rashid Al-Roken (photo to the right) and Salem Al-Roken have been detained by the notorious State Security Apparatus for more than two months, and held in one of its secret prisons.

They have not been allowed to contact their families or lawyers and are being held incommunicado, with no information available about their whereabouts or the reason for their arrest.

Their aunt, Internet activist Awatif Al-Rayes, wife of prominent human rights defender Abulsalam Darwish Al-Marzouqi, confirmed their detention in a post she published on 09 June 2025 on her account on X. She said that no communication has been received from the two sons apart from a brief phone call during the last Eid Al-Fitr.

On 16 July 2012, the State Security Apparatus arrested Rashid and his brother-in-law, human rights defender Abdullah Al-Hajri, who was the head of the Executive Board of the National Union of UAE Students at the time of his arrest.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken was arrested by officers from the State Security Apparatus at 1:30 a.m. on 17 July 2012. They surrounded his car with 10 black cars on a Dubai street, while he was on his way to a Dubai police station to report the disappearance of his son, Rashid, and his son-in-law Al-Hajri, five hours earlier.

In a report publish by GCHR on 05 March 2025, details of the enforced disappearance and torture of the three innocent citizens were detailed.

On 02 July 2013, the Federal Supreme Court acquitted Rashid of the charges against him, and sentenced Al-Hajri to seven years in prison at the end of the unfair UAE94 mass trial. His sentence expired on 16 July 2019.

As to Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, he was sentenced to ten years in prison followed by three years’ probation. His sentence expired on 17 July 2022.

On 10 July 2024, during the trial of the UAE84, prominent human rights defenders Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, Abulsalam Darwish Al-Marzouqi, Sultan Bin Kayed Al-Qasimi, Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori, and Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrazzaq Al-Siddiq were among 43 people sentenced to life in prison, which is tantamount to 25 years in prison, “for the crime of establishing, founding and managing” the Justice and Dignity Committee, allegedly “with the aim of committing terrorist acts on the country’s soil,” according to the official WAM news agency. Dr. Al-Roken and Dr. Al-Mansoori are both human rights lawyers. At the time of the trial, all five were being held in prison past the end of their sentences.

The court also announced the expiry of the criminal case against 24 defendants, including Al-Hajri.

During a hearing held on 04 March 2025, the State Security Department of the Federal Supreme Court in the UAE rejected the appeals submitted by 53 people convicted in the case known in the “UAE84” case.

GCHR condemns in the strongest terms the arrest of Rashid Al-Roken and Salem Al-Roken, the sons of prominent human rights lawyer Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, as part of a continuing pattern of systematic repression and blanket punishment adopted by the authorities since 2011, including the targeting of the families of prisoners of conscience, the confiscation of their assets, the revocation of their citizenship, and the deprivation of their civil rights. 

Recommendations

GCHR calls on the Emirati authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken and his two sons Rashid and Salem, and all other prisoners of conscience.

Finally, while they remain in detention, Rashid and Salem should be moved to a public prison, given access to their lawyers and families, and provided with medical care, as mandated by the UN Nelson Mandela Rules.