Cop28 in Dubai: detention risk warning at UN climate summit (2024)

Jamshid Sharmahd’s wife watched in fear as the pixellated dot marking his location moved away from Dubai airport and towards the border with Oman.

The Iranian-German journalist and software engineer was supposed to be on a flight from Dubai to India, in late July 2020, for a business meeting, not travelling overland. His wife watched from their home in California as the dot passed a school and a hospital thousands of miles away in the Gulf state of Oman.

It had been three days since they had last spoken while he was at a Dubai airport hotel. He had calmed her fears about his safety while waiting for his delayed flight to Mumbai, sharing his live location before the two laughed it off.

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“That was the last time my mother spoke to my father,” says their daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd. On 1 September 2020, the Iranian authorities released a video of her father in their custody.

“In the video we could see my dad blindfolded with a swollen face,” she says. “There were obvious signs of torture, and he was forced to confess to crimes that he didn’t commit. That’s how we found out my dad was kidnapped by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Jamshid, who had helped to run a satellite radio station from his home in the US that allowed people to air views critical of the Iranian authorities, was charged with “corruption on Earth”, and accused of involvement in an attack on a mosque in Shiraz in 2008, charges he and his family deny. He was later sentenced to death, a sentence that was upheld on 26 April.

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Transnational repression

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Transnational repression is the state-led targeting of refugees, dissidents and ordinary citizens living in exile. It involves the use ofelectronic surveillance,physical assault,intimidationand threats to family to silence criticism. The Guardian’s Rights and freedom series is publishing a series of articles to highlight the dangers faced by citizens in countries including the UK.

The UN working group on arbitrary detention concluded that Emirati authorities permitted Jamshid’s kidnapping to take place there. “Dubai is no vacation spot. Not for dissidents at least,” says Gazelle.

Despite the risks, it can be difficult to avoid transiting through Dubai. “There are more than two billion people living within a four-hour flight radius of Dubai, so geographically it’s in a global sweet spot,” says Jim Krane at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, and the author of several books on the emirate.

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Dubai brands itself as a global travel hub open to the world, where an estimated 85 million people will transit this year alone. Yet it is also appears to be enabling a string of high-profile detentions of activists and dissidents from authoritarian regimes allied to the government based in Abu Dhabi.

Joey Shea, an expert on the Emirates at Human Rights Watch, says: “It is incredibly dangerous for dissidents, even those from outside the UAE, to transit through Dubai because they are subject to the laws of the country, which effectively criminalise freedom of expression, association and assembly.

“The UAE works closely with other regional allies that are also intolerant to free expression and activism, so there’s a documented history of forcibly extraditing dissidents back to countries that seek them.”

Rwandan human rights advocate Paul Rusesabagina, whose story was told in the film Hotel Rwanda, was detained in Dubai airport in 2020 and flown to Kigali against his will.

The following year, Chinese dissident and US permanent resident Wang Jingyu was arrested by plainclothes officers as he stepped off a flight from Turkey in Dubai, intending to take a connecting flight to New York.

In July 2022, US citizen Asim Ghafoor, who acted as the lawyer for murdered Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was detained in Dubai airport, then freed a month later.

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Last November, while the UN Cop27 climate conference was taking place in Egypt, Sherif Osman, an Egyptian-American citizen with a popular YouTube channel, was seized by two plainclothes security officials while at a restaurant with his family.

“They said, ‘you need to come with us, without any noise or without a scene, or things are going to get far worse for you,’” he says. The officials directed him towards an unmarked car, as he heard his fiancee screaming.

Weeks before his arrest, he had used his YouTube channel to call for Egyptians to go out into the streets and protest during the climate conference, thinking the spotlight on Egypt’s dictatorship might allow the public a little more space to dissent.

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Osman demanded the officers tell him why he was being detained. “I’ve never said anything publicly about the Emirates, I’ve never mentioned Emirati politics, the royal family or Dubai. I’ve considered this place my second home since I first came here in 2014,” he told them.

Osman was held for six weeks in a Dubai prison, where the charges against him shifted. A Dubai prosecutor initially charged him with incitement “by publishing information on the internet”. He added that Osman had been arrested at the behest of the transnational policing organisation Interpol due to a case against him in Egypt from 2019, without explaining why he had been able to travel freely, including entering Dubai without issue.

Prosecutors later said that Osman’s arrest had been requested by the Arab Interior Minister’s Council, a body within the Arab League, which itself is an association of 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East. Osman’s lawyers later argued that leading Emirati security official and Interpol president, Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, knew of his arrest, along with Emirati interior minister, Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Interpol’s president: alleged torturer rises as symbol of UAE soft powerRead more

An Interpol spokesperson repeatedly denied any involvement in Osman’s detention. “For any questions relating to his arrest, we would advise you to contact the UAE authorities,” they said.

The Emirati authorities did not respond to requests for comment on Osman’s case or regarding the spate of detentions of dissidents in Dubai.

Osman was abruptly freed in late December 2022 after statements from Emirati officials that they were preparing to deport him. US officials had intervened, fearing he would be deported to Egypt, which could result in further harm.

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Osman and Gazelle Sharmahd now warn others against travelling to Dubai, especially dissidents or critics who might be hoping to attend the UN Cop28 climate conference in December. “They are more than willing to arrest people on behalf of other governments … to concoct cases that don’t exist to help allied governments kidnap and deport dissidents,” says Osman.

Shea agrees. “We expect there to be protests [at Cop28]. And at this point, we simply don’t know how UAE authorities will react when they’ve gone to such extreme lengths to stamp out their own civil society over the course of many years.”

Cop28 in Dubai: detention risk warning at UN climate summit (2024)

FAQs

What is the COP28 controversy in Dubai? ›

COP28 has been filled with controversies: a BBC report alleged President Sultan al-Jaber, the owner of an oil company, was using his position to draw up fossil fuel deals with different countries before the conference kicked off.

What was the outcome of COP28 held in Dubai? ›

The 'global stocktake' is considered the central outcome of COP 28 – as it contains every element that was under negotiation and can now be used by countries to develop stronger climate action plans due by February 2025.

What is COP28 UAE and why is it important? ›

COP28 was the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change. The summit took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was scheduled to last from 30 November to 12 December 2023, but overran by a day.

What to expect from COP28 in Dubai? ›

Discussions at the summit are expected to focus on accelerating the switch toward clean energy sources and away from coal, oil and gas. Countries are expected to agree to the global goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. A growing number of countries will also call for a phase out of fossil fuels.

Is it safe to go to COP28? ›

Activists and advocates travelling to COP28 need to be aware that political rights and civil liberties are severely limited in the United Arab Emirates. There is no freedom of assembly or free and independent media, NGOs are restricted, and human rights defenders face harassment and detention.

What is the main goal of COP28? ›

The summit delivered the UAE Consensus, a historic agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, with the potential to redefine global economies and final language that keeps the goal of limiting global warming below 1.5°C within reach.

Was COP28 a success or failure? ›

Both were achieved, yet both fell short of the victories they should have been. While opinion is divided as to whether to hail the outcomes as successes or failures, I leave COP28 with the sense of one very clear success story and one clear failure.

What did COP28 conclude highlights from the largest global climate summit? ›

Historic Fossil Fuel Agreement: COP28 concluded with a landmark agreement among nearly 200 countries to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels, marking a significant step towards the eventual end of the oil age.

What is the COP28 agenda? ›

Fast-tracking the energy transition and slashing emissions before 2030; Transforming climate finance, by delivering on old promises and setting the framework for a new deal on finance; Putting nature, people, lives, and livelihoods at the heart of climate action; and. Mobilizing for the most inclusive COP ever.

Who is responsible for COP28? ›

Sultan al-Jaber is the controversial president of COP 28

He is an engineer, businessman and politician from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As chair of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), Sultan al-Jaber leads a company that pumped 2.7m barrels of oil a day in 2021, with plans to double that by 2027.

What does COP28 stand for? ›

They bring together the 198 countries (or Parties) that have ratified the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). That's almost complete membership of every country in the world. COP28 stands for the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP).

Will COP28 make any difference? ›

Whether or not COP28 will make a difference depends on a number of factors, including the willingness of world leaders to commit to ambitious actions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the mobilization of financial resources to support climate action in developing countries, and the ability to overcome the ...

What is one of the biggest controversy issues where the COP28 is held? ›

The role of fossil fuels in Gulf economies made the question of phasing out fossil fuels a particularly contentious issue at COP28.

Is COP28 a success in UAE? ›

The UAE Consensus also successfully operationalized and began financing a fund to address Loss and Damage for the first time. The UAE Consensus reaffirms the UAE's position as a global leader in multilateral climate and development settings. With inclusivity as its guiding principle, COP28 was a success.

Why was COP28 controversial? ›

This folds into the major controversy behind COP28. On Nov. 27, the BBC reported on leaked documents from COP28's president, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. The documents allege that he planned on using his role to make oil and gas deals with other countries, including Canada, while at COP.

Was COP28 a success? ›

It's fair to say, though, that at least two of the key goals at COP28 were met, with the agreement to triple renewable energy production by 2030 and the activation of the Loss and Damages fund. However, the conference failed to set up much-needed finance structures that will help accelerate the climate transition.

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