Alaa Al-Siddiq (Arabic: آلاء الصدّيق; 18 June 1988 – 19 June 2021) was a UK-based Emirati poet and a prominent human rights activist.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Alaa al-Siddiq | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 June 1988 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates |
| Died | 19 June 2021 (aged 33) Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, Human Rights Researcher and Advocate |
Education
editBorn in Sharjah to an educated and religious family, Alaa received a bachelor's degree in Shariah from the University of Sharjah in 2010, graduating with first class honors. She was the president of the Emirates National Student Union between 2007 and 2008. In the context of the 2011 Arab Spring, Alaa had begun creating a youth petition group made up of fellow students and would have frequent meetups both in person and online to discuss human rights issues and what they can do to improve the lives of other Emirates.[7] Alaa went on to obtain a post-graduate diploma in education from the University of Sharjah. Following the detention of her father, Mohammed al-Siddiq, and increased state repression against activists and reformists, Alaa moved to Qatar in 2012 along with her husband seeking asylum.[8] She resided there for a few years and pursued a master's degree in public policy from Hamad Bin Khalifa University, graduating in 2016.[9]
Career
editAfterwards she relocated to the United Kingdom, where she served as the executive director of ALQST, an organization that advocates for human rights in the United Arab Emirates and the wider Arab world.[9] In January 2018, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar at the time, made a statement in an interview discussing ongoing conflicts with the UAE since 2015 over political prisoners and revealed that the Emirati government had been repeatedly pressing for a particular woman to be extradited to the UAE for trial.[10] A statement on Twitter by Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Athba, editor in chief of Al Arab, revealed that the woman being referred to was Alaa al-Siddiq and that Qatar had been adamant about refusing such demands, saying that their legal system does not allow for extradition for political prisoners.[11] Soon after this UAE-based newspapers, including Al-Ittihad and Al-Ain, released statements about Alaa that called her a "terrorist" and claimed that she fled the UAE using a forged Syrian passport from the Qatari government in order to become a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood first in the Gulf and then in the UK.[12][13]
In August 2020, Alaa was one of the main speakers at an online symposium titled "Gulf Coalition Against Normalization", where more than 800 activists from across the Gulf States attended. She emphasized that all activists must resist normalization of ongoing and increasing restrictions on freedoms from their governments.[14]
In July 2021, she was confirmed to be one of the persons of interest of the Pegasus software, used by UAE.[15]
Personal life
editHer father is the prominent academic and reformist Mohammad al-Siddiq, who has been held in arbitrary detention by the Emirati regime since 2012, along with other political prisoners of conscience.[16] Born in Sharjah, al-Siddiq was a prominent Shariah professor who had taught at the United Arab Emirates University and University of Sharjah, and served on the boards of several financial and Islamic banking entities in the country. Mohammad al-Siddiq was stripped of his citizenship by the UAE, which also denied his children work placements and scholarships, before eventually making them stateless, too.[17]
Death
editAlaa died in an accident on Saturday, 19 June 2021, at the age of 33, when the car in which she rode along with friends collided with another car at a junction on the A361 and the B4437 south of Shipton-under-Wychwood, in Oxfordshire, at around 20:30.[18][19]
The humans rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), has called on United Kingdom to investigate any possibility that her death was caused by foul play.[20]
An executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, Khalid Ibrahim said that after starting work for ALQST "she knew that risk doubled", knowing "what happened to Jamal Khashoggi".[21] A Saudi Arabia dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, released a video stating that Alaa al-Siddiq's phone was hacked by the Emirati intelligence through the Israeli company[22] NSO, through the malware Pegasus.[23]
DAWN urged the UAE Regime to repatriate al-Siddiq's body to the Emirates to allow her to be buried in her homeland. The group also asked the UAE to allow her father Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq, who is a prisoner in conscience in the UAE, to be allowed to attend his daughter's funeral. Both requests were turned down by Emirates authorities.[24] Alaa al-Siddiq was laid to rest in Qatar on 27 June 2021, as per her family's request.[25]
References
edit- ^ "Alaa al-Siddiq: Prominent Emirati rights activist dies in car crash in London". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ "Prominent UAE activist Alaa al-Siddiq dies in London car crash". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Mahmood, Zahid. "Emirati rights activist Alaa Al-Siddiq dies in car accident". CNN. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Alaa al-Siddiq, porte-voix des prisonniers de conscience aux EAU". L'Orient-Le Jour. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Emirati human rights activist Alaa Al-Siddiq died of multiple injuries, inquest hears". BBC News. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ "Emirati human rights activist Alaa Al-Siddiq dies in crash". BBC. 23 June 2021.
- ^ "'Just because you are not hungry, does not mean that you are free'". The Times. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "Alaa al-Siddiq: Social media pays tribute to prominent Emirati rights activist". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ a b "وفاة المعارضة الإماراتية آلاء الصديق في حادث سير في العاصمة البريطانية" [Alaa Al-Siddiq: Emirati government opponent and human rights defender tells the BBC about the "other side" of her country]. BBC News عربي (in Arabic). 12 February 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ "تعاطف خليجي مع آلاء الصديق المطلوبة للإمارات" [Gulf sympathy for Alaa Al-Siddiq, wanted for the UAE]. Al Sharq. 14 January 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "من هي المرأة التي اختلفت عليها قط والإمارات؟!" [Who is the woman on which Qatar and the UAE differed?]. Russia Today. 13 January 2018.
- ^ "الدوحة تمنح الإخوانية الإرهابية "آلاء الصديق" جوازاً سورياً مزوراً" [Doha grants the terrorist Brotherhood "Alaa Al-Siddiq" a forged Syrian passport]. Al-Ittihad. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "ما علاقة الإخوانية آلاء الصديق بالمخابرات القطرية وتميم؟" [What is the relationship of the Brotherhood Alaa Al-Siddiq with the Qatari intelligence and Tamim?]. Al-Ain. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "نشطاء مقاومة التطبيع في الخليج يوحدون جهودهم" [Anti-normalization activists in the Gulf unite their efforts]. The New Arab. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ لبنانية, ديانا مقلد-صحافية وكاتبة (18 July 2021). "UAE: Israel's (Pegasus) Spyware in the Service of Autocracy | Daraj". daraj.com. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "شاهد: آلاء الصديق تروي للجزيرة مباشر قصة والدها المعتقل بالإمارات" [Alaa Al-Siddiq tells Al Jazeera Mubasher the story of her father, who was arrested in the Emirates]. Al Jazeera. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "UAE detains 6 Islamists stripped of citizenship: lawyer". Reuters. 9 April 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ "Prominent UAE rights activist Alaa al-Siddiq killed in London road accident". Alaraby. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Dominic Nicholls (20 June 2021). "Death of 'at risk' UAE dissident must be investigated, police urged". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ "Rights group urges UK to probe UAE activist's death near London". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Death of 'at risk' UAE dissident must be investigated, police urged". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ "Tweet by Amal Alnaas". Twitter. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Laura Poitras. "Terror Contagion" (2021). Documentary. End credits.
- ^ "UK: Investigate Circumstances of Emirati Activist Alaa Al-Sidiq's Death in Fatal Car Accident". DAWN. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ "Hundreds attend funeral of Emirati dissident Alaa Al-Siddiq in Qatar". Doha News. Retrieved 27 June 2021.