Nasser Bin Ghaith Al Marri

Nasser bin Ghaith Al Marri (Arabic: ناصر بن غيث المري) is an academic and human rights activist from the United Arab Emirates. He was a figure in the UAE Five and UAE 84 trials. Bin Ghaith was arrested in 2015, and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017. He was charged with "committing a hostile act against a foreign country" in relation to Egypt, as well as "posting false information" about UAE leaders.

Education Bin Ghaith is an academic with a PhD in economics, with certifications in law, economics, and international relations. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Law from Dubai Police Academy, his Master's in Commercial Law from the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and his PhD in economic groupings from the University of Essex. At the time of his arrest, he was a lecturer at the Paris-based Sorbonne University's Abu Dhabi campus.

Human rights context in the United Arab Emirates Main Article: Human rights in the United Arab Emirates

The UAE's human rights and freedoms are significantly restricted relative to the rest of the world. The UAE has made no official commitment to freedom of speech. It is illegal to criticise the royal family, police, or any government institution or official. These laws are in effect in person and online. Any person who posts criticism online will face the same repercussions. UAE authorities have used torture, as well as enforced disappearances of prisoners. Prisoners have also been denied contact from family, or have had severely restricted contact.

UAE Five arrest and trial Main Article: UAE Five

In 2011, bin Ghaith, along with four other activists, were arrested and put on trial for "publicly insulting" UAE officials, by calling for "democratic and economic reforms". These calls were a part of the region-wide pro-democratic movement; the Arab Spring. The five were convicted, and bin Ghaith was sentenced to 2 years in prison by the State Security Court of Abu Dhabi. The arrests and convictions received international attention from media outlets such as the New York Times, BBC News, and attention from human rights advocacy organisations such as Amnesty International. The next day, the five received a presidential pardon from Former President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

The charges stemmed from a series of tweets in which bin Ghaith criticised Egyptian authorities, particularly concerning the "Rabaa Massacre," as well as his meetings with human rights activists. Many of the defendants were already serving prison sentences for similar offences. The Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center reported that on 10 July 2024, the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court issued sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment to 53 defendants in the UAE’s second-largest mass trial, commonly referred to as the "UAE84" case. The accused were not charged with any new offences but were being tried again for charges linked to their previous involvement in the group, for which they had already faced prosecution. Following his arrest, he was reportedly held in solitary confinement.

Bin Ghaith has engaged in hunger strikes to protest his detention and the conditions at Al-Razeen Prison, where he is currently being held. In April 2017 and February 2018, he undertook hunger strikes in response to his treatment in prison. In October 2018, he began another hunger strike, which, as of 18 December 2018, had lasted over seventy days. In Al-Sadar prison, bin Ghaith was reportedly denied essential items, such as his glasses, for a number of weeks.

NGO activism for Nasser bin Ghaith's release SAR issued a call to the UAE authorities on 26 April 2016, requesting the release of bin Ghaith or the disclosure of his whereabouts and the charges against him. According to SAR, UAE state security forces arrested bin Ghaith on 18 August 2015 and detained him in an undisclosed location, where he was allegedly denied access to his family, legal representation, and medical care. The organisation claims that the laws invoked in his case are violations of international standards on freedom of expression and association. On 15 January 2018, the UN issued an opinion calling for bin Ghaith’s immediate release and the provision of compensation and reparations. The UN Working Group criticised the UAE’s handling of the case, citing concerns about arbitrary arrest, secret detention, and violations of bin Ghaith’s right to a fair trial.