Emirati activist and UAE94 member Saeed Al Tenaiji labelled as “terrorist” by UAE authorities

Emirati activist and UAE94 member Saeed Al Tenaiji labelled as “terrorist” by UAE authorities

Saeed Al Tenaiji is a researcher and activist. In 2013, together with the other members of the group known as the “UAE94”, Al Tenaiji was convicted in absentia to 15 years of prison based on vague national security-related charges by the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi. On September 12, 2021, Al Tenaiji was included in the government’s terror list. He is currently living in exile in Turkey.

Saeed Al Tenaiji is an Emirati researcher and currently heads both the Gulf Center for Studies and Dialogue and the Emirati Association Against Normalization with Israel. He was also member of the Reform and Social Guidance Association (Al Islah), an association that had been operating in the UAE since 1974 but was banned by the authorities in March 2014.

Al Tenaiji belongs to the UAE 94, a group of Emirati scholars, activists, lawyers, doctors and human rights defenders who were put on mass trial in 2013, after signing a petition calling for greater democratic reforms within the Emirates, including the establishment of democratic elections for all members of the Federal National Council.

On July 2, 2013, Al Tenaiji was convicted in absentia to 15 years of prison based on vague national security-related charges by the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi.

On September 12, 2021, Al Tenaiji, together with Hamad Al Shamsi, Ahmed Al Nuaimi, and Mohammed Saqer Al Zaabi, was included in the UAE’s national terrorism list, under the UAE Cabinet’s ministerial resolution No. 83 of 2021.

Timeline

September 12, 2021: Al Tenaiji is included in the UAE’s national terrorism list.
July 2, 2013: Al Tenaiji is sentenced in absentia to 15 years of prison.
March 4, 2013: The “UAE 94” trial commences.