ALAA AL-SIDDIQ; A Prominent Emirati Activist, Defended Prisoners, and Suspected to ‘be Killed’ in London

Emirati Human Rights Activist, “Alaa Al-Siddiq”, killed on June 19, 2021, following a traffic accident in the British capital, London, according to what was reported in the media, without revealing more details.

Alaa Al-Siddiq who was the executive director of the “ALQST” Organization for Human Rights, and concerned with prisoners of conscience in the Arab Gulf states.

 

"Wanted"

Her name is “Alaa Al-Siddiq”, 33 years old, and she is the daughter of an Emirati preacher and professor of Sharia, Mohammed Abdul Razzaq Al Siddiq Al-Obaidli, who imprisoned since 2012 in the UAE, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the “UAE 94” case.

 

Shortly after her father's arrest, the dangerous stage in Alaa's life began, as the Emirati authorities considered her a “wanted” and began to pursue her, send threats on her phone and through social media, the reason is that she initially demanded the release of her father, describing his detention as “arbitrary”.

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Siddiq is scheduled to be released after a few months, to be under observation for a period of 3 years outside the Emirati prisons.

Alaa is one of the most prominent figures in opposition to the ruling regime in the Emirates, she has turned into public opposition as a result of its rejection of the repressive practices of the Emirati authorities, especially after her father was arrested in 2012, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, because of false accusations most notably “arranging a coup”, at the time, Alaa described her father's trial as “a formality”, and it lacks the lowest standards of justice and transparency.

Alaa has been active in defending her father, a prisoner of conscience in the Emirati prisons, since 2012, she participated in several activities that exposed human rights violations in the UAE, which forced her to go out of her country as “exiled”.

Since the beginning of this year, Alaa has headed the “ALQST” Organization for human rights, it is a human rights organization based in London, it works to promote human rights, and documenting violations through a number of reports, news and research, it is particularly active in defending prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia in particular, and the Gulf in general.

“ALQST” was founded in August 2014 by the opposition Saudi human rights defender “Yahya Asiri”, he is a former officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force, the aim is to document human rights violations and publish reports on them.

 

Emirati-Qatari Dispute

Alaa Al-Siddiq had left the State of Qatar, where she had resided for a period of time, towards the British capital, London, to obtain political asylum there, this is after the Emirati nationality was withdrawn from her father and siblings.

Earlier, the editor-in-chief of the Qatari newspaper, “Al-Arab”, Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Athba, said: “The woman whom the Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, spoke about in January 2018, and she was the cause of a dispute with the UAE in 2015, she is Alaa Al-Siddiq, the wife of the Emirati opposition “Abdul Rahman Bagbir”.

Whereas, in his statements 3 years ago, the Qatari Foreign Minister revealed an aspect of an Emirati-Qatari dispute dating back to 2015, after Qatar refused to extradite the wife of an Emirati opposition.

In an interview with “Qatar TV”, the Minister said that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, “Mohammed bin Zayed”, sent an envoy to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh “Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani”, to hand them the woman, but the prince refused their request; Because the woman was not wanted for a criminal offense.

Prisoner of Conscience

Alaa Al-Siddiq posted a video on her Twitter account, in which she explained the details of her father's arrest in April 2012, who was secretly tried for 10 years in prison.

Alaa expressed her fear that her father would not leave after the end of his reign, if the UAE uses terrorism laws, she appealed to human rights organizations to contribute to the release of prisoners of conscience in the UAE.

Alaa also spoke in several television interviews about her father being subjected to torture and enforced disappearance, she indicated that the Emirati authorities had withdrew the nationality from him and his children, she confirmed that had not listened to her father's voice since 2013, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation “BBC”.

From his side, Emirati opposition Humaid Al-Nuaimi commented by saying that “Al-Siddiq should be honored, not arrested”, and he wrote: “Muhammad Abd al-Razzaq al-Siddiq, is a legal scholar, preacher, charitable worker, if he was in other than the UAE, he would have been honored!”.

The Saudi activist, Alia Al-Hwaiti, also expressed her happiness with the daughter of Al-Siddiq's talk about her father's suffering, she wrote, “Beautiful Alaa, I'm so glad, you finally spoke, hold your hand, go on, do not be silent and do not let anyone tell you that silence is a virtue in truth, may God release your father”.

 

Sudden Death

Tweeters across the Arab world expressed their condolences for Alaa Al-Siddiq's sudden death, - following a car accident in Oxford, near London, a few days after her birthday-, they are participating in her writings and words in defense of human rights.

“ALQST” Human Rights Organization mourned the death of the Director of the Executive Organization, Emirati activist Alaa Al-Siddiq, through an official statement that stated: “With great sadness, ALQST organization mourns the sudden death of its CEO and a symbol of the Emirati human rights movement, Alaa Al-Siddiq, in a traffic accident”.

Noting that “the organization followed up with the police and the competent authorities of the incident, it does not see any criminal suspicions in the accident, this is what the police see as well, the police will publish the results of the investigations, as soon as they are completed”.

While Sarah Lee Whitson, Executive Director of “DAWN” and a member of the Board of Trustees of “ALQST”, said: “Al-Siddiq was inspired, not defeated, by the injustice experienced by her father, Muhammed Al-Siddiq, to seek justice for all of the people of the Gulf region deprived of basic human right”.

“The very least Emirati authorities could do is to repatriate Al-Siddiq's body and allow her father to leave prison to attend a funeral and properly grieve her loss”, said Whitson.

In turn, the Saudi activist, Lina Al-Hathloul, is a member of the foreign relations team in the National Rally Party - for a Democratic Homeland, said for Alaa’s death, through a tweet by her Twitter account: “My friend and brave Human Rights Defender (Alaa) passed away after spending years defending her father unjustly imprisoned in the UAE, she fought, almost alone, a dictatorship who tried to tarnish her image her whole life, rest in peace, we’ll miss you forever”.

On the other hand, Maryam Al-Khawaja, a Bahraini activist in the field of defending human rights, expressed her receipt of the news of Alaa’s death, through a tweet on her Twitter account, in which she said: “This has been weighing heavy on me since I read the news, I didn’t get the chance to know Alaa, which I regret, but was this really an accident?”.

 

 

 

Despite the fact that the British police initially said that the traffic accident was “not suspicious”, activists and tweeters question the nature of the death of the Emirati opposition human rights activist “Alaa Al-Siddiq” in a traffic accident.

Noting that traffic accidents in Britain are not uncommon, and accusing the Emirati Regime of being behind her assassination to kill her human rights project.

They described her as “Khashoggi number two”, noting that for several years she had been subjected to death threats, in case she did not stop defending her father and reminding his case, and refrain from human rights activism.