CONFIDENTIAL
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Report by HM Embassy, Abu Dhabi
General Observations
This is a new country of violent and unsophisticated background. Low level officials sometimes operate in ways which higher authority would not authorise and may well countermand. The background is much rougher than the UK. It can also fairly be said that in Shaikhly government a man can often get himself to the Shaikh and put himself at the Shaikh's mercy, and often then get away with every- thing except murder. The best comment is that of the Chief of Protocol, son of a former President of Syria. He has been urged to return to Syria by President Assad but does not want to. He said three things. The British had left a tradition of order; there was a spirit of freedom; and no-one feared the knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Right No.
(i)
(ii)
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Imprisonment without trial is rare: the only notable case is the former Ruler of Sharjah, who murdered his successor. He has not been formally tried partly for reasons of political embarrassment and partly because it is regarded as a family matter. Bail procedure is inadequate (chiefly through bad administration) and persons are apt to be held in custody for considerable periods before trial.
In a small proportion of cases of people arrested, the arrested man may get a more or less casual beating by the police. Torture as such is not applied.
(iii) To the best of our knowledge slavery is non-
(iv)
existent.
Freedom of oral expression is as complete as the commercial judgement of the speaker allows. The local press is controlled and subject to pre-censorship, though this seldom has to be applied positively. Foreign publications are sometimes censored by means of a page's removal or by being arbitrarily seized. Anything regarded as pornographic, within a fairly wide definition of the term, is also liable to seizure. But in general there is little restriction. Television and radio are government controlled and subject to pre-censorship. The media have recently been instructed to avoid comment prejudicial
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