Muhammad Al-Zaabi to Al-Estiklal: The UAE and Saudi Arabia Are Competing to Please 'Israel'

The former head of the Emirati Jurists Association and the former legal advisor, Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi, confirmed that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed is chasing after Israel in the hope of protecting himself and achieving his expansionist dreams.

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, Al-Zaabi explained that Bin Zayed receives arms and Israeli support "in return for carrying out dirty operations in the Arab region, and that normalization with the entity is a security directive and not a popular will and desire."

He added that the current Emirati-Saudi conflict between bin Zayed and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, is based on competition for leadership in the region; And that the Gulf contract broke up years ago and was not subject to the blockade of the State of Qatar.

The Emirati advisor stressed that Ibn Zayed supports every criminal and tyrant in world to bury the freedom that he sees as a threat to his throne.

He also holds many Arab detainees, especially Palestinians, and threatens them with their children and wives if they talk about violations against them.

 

 

Normalization and Relations

How do you see the issue of Abu Dhabi's normalization with Israel? Why this scramble and concessions by the Emirati regime to the occupation?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: Normalization between Abu Dhabi and Israel is the choice of Mohamed bin Zayed; because he believes that he will achieve his expansionist dreams, he serves the interests of Tel Aviv aiming to ensure his security and his expansion in the region at the expense of Palestine and its people by imposing this strange occupying body against its people.

In return, he gets arms and support from Israel, whether through dirty operations in which he can help in Arab and Islamic countries, or through the Zionist lobby.

 

What is the position of the Emirati people towards normalization and support for the Palestinian cause?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The Emirati people are Arab Muslims who stood with the Palestinian cause and are still secretly and publicly, and this "media and propaganda" transformation seems clearly to the observer that it is artificial, and it is a directed by the authority, not by the popular will and desire.

 

How do you see the wave of normalization sweeping the Arab world, and what is your interpretation of it?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The attempt at normalization is old in the Arab world, but the new element that has entered this time is blackmail, narrow interests, and money.

The farther the governments of Arab countries distance themselves from their people, the closer and closer they become to the enemy.

 

What is the future of the internal Gulf relations in light of the clashes in Abu Dhabi, sometimes with Qatar and sometimes with Saudi Arabia?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The Gulf union ended years ago, and today we are only seeing the results, and the biggest influence we have reached in the Gulf may be the aspirations of Mohamed bin Zayed in the region, and the beginning was not from Qatar.

Everyone is aware of the issue of the spy cell in Oman, then the conspiracy to besiege Qatar, and then return to the dispute with Saudi Arabia in the dispute over who is the leader of the region, which "Mohamed bin Zayed" aspires to be, and not his rival today, Mohammed bin Salman.

However, the Gulf will remain as "governments" based on bilateral or tripartite relations, according to what they see as interests that serve their orientations without regard to the interests of the people of the region and their natural interdependence.

 

What is the nature of the economic and political relations between Abu Dhabi and Tehran?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: One of the best relations, despite the apparent disagreement. The numbers reveal that the UAE is Iran's largest trading partner, as it is a back gate that benefits from it when it is exposed to Western sanctions and protects it from collapse.

 

 

Subversive Roles

How do you see the UAE's role in the Yemen war and the fact that it sought to empower Israel from Bab al-Mandeb?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The UAE's entry into Yemen was under the cover of legitimacy and under the pretext of protecting the region from the Houthis and their ally Iran.

However, with the passage of time, it became clear that the reason for its entry and the price it paid, whether from the blood of the people of the Emirates or their wealth, was to achieve special goals in dividing Yemen and controlling some important sites. Finally, the implementation of the policy of service with Israel.

 

Does the case revealed by the movie "Weirdo" on Al-Jazeera affect the relationship between Qatar and Abu Dhabi after the attempts to demonize Doha in this film?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The relationship was tense and still it is, and this is clear even after the Gulf reconciliation, which Abu Dhabi did not want. Because each of them has a line in the region that is different from the other.

 

What is the role of the UAE in the counter-revolutions? What is the secret of its support for it in Cairo, Sana'a, Libya, and Tunisia?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The UAE, led by Mohamed bin Zayed, knows that the transformation of the countries of the region into free and democratic countries exposes the flaws of the dictatorial regimes that seized the region and humiliated its people, and that change in one-part leads to change in the other part because freedom is contagious.

Therefore, he supports every criminal and tyrant in the world.

 

What is your interpretation of the hostile position of the Zayed family from political Islam?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: This matter shows the extent of violations, abuses, and contradictions that they are committing in Muslim countries.

Political Islam is the true Islam that they do not want people to know and adopt, since everyone is equal, and Islam is present in all aspects of life.

 

What is the future of the current tragic Arab political reality, and how to get out of it?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: Change in the region is coming. The Arabs are not an anomaly in this world, but it is a matter of time, and those who plot against us are only trying to delay the awakening of the nation.

I believe that the awareness industry that has begun to grow is one of the most important factors for awakening and destroying the idols of tyranny.

 

 

Internal Agenda

How do you see the internal conditions, political freedoms and freedom of opinion and expression in the Emirates?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: According to my experience with it, there is no freedom. Everyone who demands these freedoms is either imprisoned or subjected to heavy restrictions, travel bans and other fundamental rights, or an immigrant from the country to escape the grip of the police regime.

All this is confirmed by documented human rights reports that monitor the harvest of this systematic destruction of human rights.

 

Where do the current practices of the UAE government take the country, and what are their repercussions on the Emirati people?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: UAE is on the path of oppressive tyrannical regimes in terms of tools and methods, and it is natural that the result will be the same. They are effective in the short term, but they cannot continue in the long term.

With the speed of transformations in the region, the end of the era of tyranny must be faster than we imagine, whether on other peoples affected by the UAE's leadership of the counter-revolution or even on the people of the Emirates oppressed by security.

 

How is the reformists' trial process in the Emirates going?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: It is still under the hands of the jailer, both in the security prisons and the Ministry of the Interior, where bargaining over the most basic rights. They are refusing to release those whose sentences have expired and keeping them in prisons to provide televised recordings condemning themselves or others. They are used by the security services as a propaganda tool against detainees or other parties.

Or, they are living in a “large prison” subjected to censorship, restriction of freedoms, prevention of work, travel, renewal of documents and other violations.

It is a file that will not end as long as the UAE continues its subversive role in the region, because the reformist voice inside the country annoys it more than any other voice.

 

Will the Abu Dhabi regime pursue Emirati opponents abroad to silence some of them?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: Yes, and it does not stop this persecution for the opponents abroad.

 

What is your interpretation of the death of the Emirati activist "Alaa Al-Siddiq" in London?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: The authorities in Britain announced, in their initial investigations, that Alaa’s death was the result of a car accident, and the announcement of the final result may be months from now.

We do not know the extent to which this incident is related to the fact that Alaa was spied on her phone as it was published after her death. She suffered with her family from major violations, from the imprisonment of her father and the withdrawal of her nationality and the nationality of her father, mother and all her brothers.

 

 

Human Rights Violations

What is the nature of human rights violations in UAE prisons?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: Human rights violations in the UAE prisons vary according to the nature of the prisons. At first, the arrests are in secret security prisons. We know about the latter only what the detainees disclose after they leave these places.

Here some may stay for months and years without trials, and charges of a security nature are brought against the detainees after confessions were extracted under torture.

Many detainees mentioned different types of torture they were subjected to, whether psychological or physical torture, in solitary confinement during the detention period, with complete cut off from the outside world.

This is in addition to beatings, electric shocks and hanging for a long time in an upside-down position.

The use of the method of torture with extreme cold in the cells and then turning them into extreme heat, and other inhumane torture methods against detainees, whether Emirati citizens or foreigners.

Moreover, these brutal practices against detainees are dramatically increasing in prisons specialized in security and political issues and crimes of expression.

There the detainees are gathered and treated in violation of the prison laws established by the state; They are deprived of their most basic rights to contact their families or visit and are sometimes beaten.

They are denied medical care known as willful medical negligence and have access to good food or clothing appropriate in the heat of summer or the cold of winter.

Communications and visits are cut off from them, they are placed in solitary confinement for months, and some of them for more than a year, and they are cut off from the world completely.

Especially the inmates of “Al Razeen” prison, which is reserved for Emiratis of opinion and jurists; It is not possible to reach the detainees in this prison or know their conditions.

 

What is the nature of the ongoing violations against reformists and opponents in the UAE trials?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: These are “security-political” trials that take place in coordination with the security apparatus, where violations are carried out and confessions are extracted, then the State Security Prosecution plays the role of mediator after that.

It covers up the violations of the security apparatus and transfers the case as it was fabricated to the court to end in the hands of a judge who rules as the security services want, without considering any defense or legal defenses of the defendants and their lawyers.

 

There are a lot of prisoners of conscience in the UAE; How many are they? And what is their fate?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: We have more than 100 detainees known to us; But definitely there are more that we don’t know about them. People of different nationalities refuse to talk about their cases, hundreds between the detainees of the state security apparatus, the notorious “Al-Razeen” prison, or the “Al-Wathba” and “Al-Sadr” prisons.

Unfortunately, the UAE government does not release them and does not allow their release even after the end of their sentences and the expiry of their sentence.

Because it treats them as hostages, compromising their freedoms, asking them to record written or televised confessions condemning themselves and others.

These confessions are then broadcast to justify the violations they have been or will be subjected to; Many of them have now passed their sentence 4 years ago, and they have not yet been released.

 

Are there opposition detainees from the Arabs, especially Palestinians, in the prisons of the Emirates?

Mohammed bin Saqr Al Zaabi: There are many non-Emirati Arab detainees of various nationalities, especially Palestinians, but we cannot know their numbers.

Many of them are bargained and threatened with their children and wife residing in the UAE if the family talks about the violations these detainees are subjected to or talks about their situation to any human rights or media body.

Some leaks recently came out about some Arab detainees, revealing their very poor conditions in the UAE prisons.