UN experts should open an independent investigation into the death of Emirati poet and editor Habib Al Sayegh in 2019, said Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) today in letters to three UN experts.

The request follows the October 25th publication of Princes and Thieves, a book by investigative journalist Matthew Cole which alleges that UAE security officers detained, tortured and killed Al Sayegh in August 2019 shortly after he published a column calling Israel the enemy. While DAWN has not independently verified the allegations in the book, the allegations are consistent with the UAE’s well-documented suppression of dissent and have not, to DAWN’s knowledge, been independently investigated.

“The allegations that UAE security forces tortured and killed one of the country’s most prominent poets are horrifying and demand an independent investigation,” said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director. “Jamal Khashoggi’s murder showed us all just how far governments will go to silence their critics. The UAE should not be allowed to dismiss these allegations without answering basic questions about how Habib Al Sayegh died.”

Al Sayegh, 64, was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al Khaleej, chairman of the Emirates Writers Union and secretary general of the Arab Writers Union. In his August 11, 2019 weekly column in Al Khaleej, titled “Israel Is Our Real Enemy and A Dangerous Project,” Al Sayegh described Israel as “a real and natural enemy” and asked “who authorized the normalizers to speak on behalf of everyone?” Nine days later, the state news agency announced his death. The announcement did not state a cause. The UAE did not publicly in 2019 respond to questions around the circumstances of his death. One year later, the UAE normalized its relations with Israel.