UAE staples shut mouth of Human Rights Watch, no permit granted for conference in Dubai

This country happens to be one of our allies and a favorite trading partner of the Liberals.  Remember how the ex-Lib leader Bob Rae tried   his level best to get their airline Emirates to take precedence over our own Canadian operators? Canadian Liberals are enemies of free speech just like the Muslim countries they hold in esteem.  Birds of a feather.

From WSJ:
U.A.E. Rights Record in Spotlight    as HRW Cancels Dubai Conference.  A Human Rights Watch press conference scheduled at a hotel in Dubai today was canceled because it lacked a government permit, a move the organization said underscored threats to freedom of speech in the United Arab Emirates.

HRW had planned to use the conference to publicize its annual report, which said the human rights situation in the U.A.E. was worsening. The New York-based nonprofit pointed to the sentencing of 69 people last July for allegedly plotting an overthrow after a trial that was “manifestly unfair,” as well as evidence of torture in detention facilities and migrants subjected to forced labor. It made a similar assessment about labor conditions and free speech in Qatar.........

From HumanRightsWatch:
....The United Arab Emirates (UAE)    in 2013 stifled free expression, and subjected dissidents to manifestly unfair trials marred by credible allegations of torture, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2014.

A court sentenced 69 dissidents to prison terms of up to 10 years in July on charges of aiming to overthrow the government, though most of the evidence the court cited in the 243-page judgment suggested that they had only engaged in peaceful political activities. Many of those convicted, and another group of 30 dissidents facing similar charges, said they experienced mistreatment in pretrial detention that in some cases amounted to torture.

“The UAE’s repressive laws and dysfunctional justice system belie the government’s efforts to present the country as moderate and progressive,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The UAE might seem like a safe place to shop, do business, or take a winter holiday but it’s becoming a very dangerous place to express a political opinion.”.........