Five UAE residents are currently on trial for “publicly insulting” UAE rulers. The Supreme Court is scheduled to issue its verdict on November 27 2011. This briefing paper provides an interim assessment of the case to date. It highlights two main categories of human rights violations in this case: first, the government’s unlawful prosecution of the activists for exercising their legitimate right to free speech; and, second, flagrant due process violations that have unfolded in the course of the trial.
