It has emerged that at least nine individuals have been banned from travelling and cannot leave the UAE. These names remained undisclosed due to fears of reprisals in light of the recently passed Cybercrimes Law, which criminalized Emiratis from passing information to both independent journalists and human rights organisations. Those banned from travelling are either relatives of detainees or known to be sympathetic of their plight. They have not been arrested, charged with a crime or given official reasons for the restrictions on their movement.

This is the most recent controversy involving human rights abuses in the UAE. In August a group of lawyers began a hunger strike [JURIST report] to protest their illegal detentions. In July the UAE arrested [JURIST report] a prominent lawyer in a crackdown on Islamist dissidents. Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch in late April called on the UAE to stop the recent crackdown on political activists [JURIST report] by ending arrests and releasing those already in custody, expressing concern that the UAE is threatening to revoke prisoners' citizenship as a way of punishing them for expressing public dissent, an action that the advocacy groups contend violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [text]. AI has previously called on the UAE government [press release] to release such "prisoners of conscience" in compliance with international law. Last November the UAE Federal Supreme Court imprisoned five activists [JURIST report] for participating in a campaign seeking political liberties.