Alia Abdulnoor

Alia Abdulnoor (; 20 November 1977 – 4 May 2019) was an Emirati woman convicted of supporting and financing Al Qaeda. She was arrested in 2015 and sentenced in 2017 to a 10 year imprisonment on convictions of financing Al Qaeda, transmitting it's communications, and promoting its ideology; however, human rights activists and her family claim she was arrested for donations made to Syrian women and children in 2011 during the Syrian civil war. While imprisoned, Abdulnoor was allegedly tortured and denied medical assistance for her breast cancer relapse. Despite calls for release from human rights activists, she died in 2019 in Tawam hospital in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.

Arrest and sentencing Abdulnoor was arrested alongside her sister in July 2015 at her family home in the Emirate of Ajman. She was arrested in a raid by police officers posing as civilians, and was held in solitary confinement in an enforced disappearance for the following four months, with limited information regarding her arrest.

She received a sentence for promoting Al Qaeda ideology, financially supporting the group, and assisting in terrorism in February 2017. According to the prosecution, Abdulnoor aided Al Qaeda online by acting as a messenger between members, supplying the group with money, and publishing false information about the UAE online. She confessed to the charges and provided additional information regarding the group and its members.

Imprisonment Abdulnoor initially lived in an eight-person prison cell in al-Wathba prison with around 20 to 40 other inmates, and she reportedly developed depression. After allegedly being told that her sister would be killed, Abdulnoor was coerced into signing a confession, and received a 10 year sentence. An inmate who was imprisoned with Abdulnoor and her sister, Asma, claimed Abdulnoor was denied medical care, forced to eat expired, contaminated, and infested foods, drugged with sedatives, and lived in unhygienic conditions. The United Arab Emirates spokesman for public prosecution claimed Abdulnoor received treatment for cancer in 2008, which was funded by the country, and that she relapsed in 2017 following her conviction. Activists also pressured the government for her release as Abdulnoor, who at this point had terminal breast cancer, was unexpected to survive. The United Nations special rapporteurs called for her to be able to "live her last days of life in dignity and with her family at home".

Death Abdulnoor was transferred to Tawam hospital in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, on 10 January 2019, without the knowledge or consent of her family. The family were only notified following repeated efforts to contact her. She died on 4 May 2019 at the hospital as a result of the breast cancer. A spokesperson for the UAE, in a statement to the government news agency WAM, claimed she died while receiving treatment in Tawam hospital, and that her family members were allowed to visit.