Crackdown on Islamist group in Dubai

I wonder what Mathloom can tell us about these guys? Is he one of them? How close is he to them?


A veiled woman walks as people in bikinis sunbathe and swim at a beach in Dubai June 7, 2012.


UAE cracks down on Islamist group urging greater public voice


RAS AL-KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates – Morning prayers had just ended. Worshippers streamed out, squinting into the rising sun and paying no attention to the knot of men wearing the traditional white robes of the Gulf standing nearby.
"Can we talk?" one of the men said as they surrounded an activist who was heading home for breakfast in the northernmost city in the United Arab Emirates. A moment later, the activist was maneuvered into a waiting car. It was the last time Saleh al-Dhufairi was seen in public.
The arrest April 29 — described by al-Dhufairi's son and rights groups — was another apparent pinpoint strike in one of the far-flung frontiers of the Arab Spring: crackdowns on a loosely knit Islamist network advocating a greater public voice in UAE's tightly controlled affairs.
At least eight people, including a member of the ruling family of the emirate Ras al-Khaimah, have been detained this year for suspected links to the Islamist group al-Islah, or Reform. Five others have been reported missing by rights groups, which claim undercover security agents took them into custody.
Members of al-Islah describe their goals in purely populist terms, saying they want to open up political participation in a country whose seven emirates are governed by various tribal dynasties. UAE authorities view them as a dangerous undercurrent inspired by the Arab Spring gains of Islamist movements elsewhere, such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and a potential threat to the UAE's Western-friendly tolerance.
"We hear today that there are some who are trying to tamper with the stability of the UAE," said Shiek Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the ruler of the emirate Ras al-Khaimah's, whose cousin was placed under palace guard last month for links to al-Islah.
"I would say to them, 'The people of the UAE don't need lessons from anyone,'" Sheik Saud said during a discussion on use of Twitter and other social media sites to call for UAE reforms.
In the broad tableau of the Arab Spring, the UAE's internal showdowns can appear insignificant and relegated to the margins. But they illuminate some powerful themes brewing across the Gulf. Aiming to ride out the region's upheavals, the ruling monarchs and sheiks — all major Western allies — are stepping up crackdowns and cooperation against any perceived threats to their power.
The UAE is a curious proving ground for this tougher stance. It's been untouched by the street protests that have swept across multiple nations since last year. The cosmopolitan tempo of Dubai and Abu Dhabi barely missed a beat as other parts of the Middle East fell into chaos.
That, however, has not stopped UAE authorities from applying muscle against any possible challenges to the status quo in a country where political parties are banned and a parliament-style body, elected by a hand-picked pool of voters, has no direct powers.
In one of the first swipes by officials, five people were convicted last year of anti-state crimes after signing an online petition that included appeals for a stronger electoral system. The group — including a prominent blogger and an economics professor who has frequently lectured at Abu Dhabi's branch of the Sorbonne university — was eventually freed on a presidential order, but the charges have not been officially dropped.
Meanwhile, Dubai's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has become the UAE's bullhorn. His warnings include the perils of subversion via social media and fears that the Muslim Brotherhood and others could seek footholds in the Gulf and try to chip away at the ruling systems.
He has a receptive audience among Gulf authorities from Kuwait to Oman. Proposals for closer union are quickly gaining steam. The motivation — as Saudi Arabia's foreign minister outlined last month — is largely driven by insecurities. They include: bonding together against rival Iran, protecting Bahrain's embattled monarchy against a resilient uprising, and trying to keep other Arab Spring pressures at bay.
"The Gulf states are doing everything they can to try to stop time," said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain's Durham University. "The story of the Arab Spring is from over and the chapters in the Gulf have yet to be written."
In Ras al-Khaimah, the jumble of concrete-facade buildings and sleepy street-front markets still resembles what Dubai and Abu Dhabi looked like decades ago. But its rulers have clear ambitions, such as expanding its namesake airline, RAK Airways, and boosting free-trade zones modeled after its now more glamorous cousins.
Members of al-Islah meet in coffee shops and homes. They are wary of going to the group's offices and community centers, worried they are now monitored by security forces. The group claims it has thousands of members.
"Here is a country that welcomes people from all over the world to work and live and be part of the society," said Salem al-Tenaiji, a self-described rights activist and member of al-Islah. "But the UAE rulers won't listen to their own people."
During an hour conversation, his mobile phone rang every few minutes.
"It's work. They are checking up on me as usual," said al-Tenaiji, who claims he was shifted from his teaching post to a do-nothing post at the Health Ministry in 2010 because of his links to the group.
"They just want to keep an eye on me," he said.
Seven fellow activists, all believed to be members of al-Islah, are being held by UAE officials after being stripped of their citizenship for criticizing the country's rulers.
The London-based Emirati Center for Human Rights says at least five other men — some of them al-Islah members — have been apparently detained since early April and their whereabouts have not been made public. They include a former chairman of the UAE's Jurist Association, Ahmed Zaabi, and Saleh al-Dhufairi, the activist led away by apparent plainclothes agents after morning prayers.
Government officials did not reply to requests for comment by The Associated Press.
"The right to freedom of association is under attack, with anyone associated with reform calls at risk of being arrested," said a statement from the Emirati Center for Human Rights. "Authorities are attempting to cultivate unfounded fear at the rising tide of 'Islamism' when it is the suppression of calls for democratic reform that should be feared."
Al-Islah carefully tries to keep its message on political inclusion and democracy. But its website offers hints of Islamic views that could clash with the UAE's relative openness and acceptance of Western lifestyles.
One posting described "freedom" as an inherent goal of Islam, but stressed the need for "controls" on women's dress and criticized Western societies for permitting gambling, drinking and homosexuality.
"Certainly we have Islamic views. This is an Islamic country," said the activist al-Tenaiji. "But we have no desire to limit women or drastically change the way of life in the UAE. We just want to be heard."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/0...up-urging-greater-public-voice/#ixzz1yrCBwWhN

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http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/uae-cultural-chasm-may-benefit-islamists

UAE cultural chasm may benefit Islamists

DUBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - The show had everything Madonna's fans could have wished for: erotic dancing, provocative outfits, a giant cross, bare-chested monks and a Hebrew prayer.

But for many Muslim Emiratis, the Queen of Pop's first performance in the Gulf region earlier this month was just too much.

"After Madonna, what next? The UAE's reputation has been sullied, the people's feelings were ignored and the call to respect our values were taken lightly," wrote Twitter user Rashed Alshamsi, one comment in a rare public outpouring of criticism against the authorities for allowing the performance.

The campaign reflected growing anxiety among both conservative and liberal Emiratis that their local traditions and Islamic values are at risk as the Arab state rapidly expands, thanks largely to expatriate labour.

Less than 10 percent of the country's estimated eight million people are Emirati.

"There is a large degree of apprehension among Emiratis that we are a minority, that Arabic is not the main spoken language, and that there is a rise in foreigners and problems like alcohol and prostitution," said Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a UAE-based political commentator.

The protests that have swept four Arab heads of state from office and strengthened the Islamist movement throughout the Middle East have not been seen in the UAE, thanks in part to its cradle-to-grave welfare system.

But the authorities remain concerned that the rise of Islamists to power elsewhere could embolden its own Islamists' movement, and show little tolerance of dissent.

Authorities have arrested at least 10 Islamists in the past two months, including a ruling family member who is being held at the ruler's palace in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, in an apparent clampdown on dissidents.

Islamists in the UAE say they share similar ideology with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt but have no direct links with the group, seen as a mentor for all Islamist groups in the region.

Emirati sources say the UAE will not allow religion to be exploited to sow discord. Analysts said that some of the issues advocated by Islamists may appeal to conservative Emiratis, even if many do not agree with their ideology, however.

"Islamists are populists, they appeal to people in the UAE (because) they talk about the importance of Arabic as the main language, the traditions of the UAE, about the rise in numbers of expats," said Qassemi.

CULTURAL CHASM

The economic boom in Abu Dhabi and Dubai has made UAE citizens some of the world's wealthiest with an annual income per capita of $48,000, but it has also brought what some see as unwelcome Western influence.

The cultural divide in the UAE between the native Muslim population and expatriates, mostly non-Arabs, is conspicuous on the streets.

While Emirati women cover themselves from head to toe with a headscarf and abaya, a traditional formless black gown, their expatriate counterparts walk around in shorts or mini-skirts, and public beaches are full of tourists sunbathing in bikinis.

Islam bans alcohol for Muslims. But in the UAE, non-Muslims with an official licence can legally buy alcohol from certain shops, and beach bars and the infamous all-you-can-drink brunches heave with revellers every weekend.

"Islamists are conservative, they don't agree with most of what is happening with Abu Dhabi and Dubai when it comes to the lifestyle of people and the changes in the culture and identity," said Ahmed Mansoor, a liberal blogger and one of five activists jailed last year for criticising the authorities.

"The circumstances in the UAE may have served the Islamists and their popular demands."

Islamists in the UAE say all they want is more civil rights and greater power for the Federal National Council, a quasi-parliamentary body that advises the government but has no legislative authority.

The government has sought to address people's worries. It has encouraged population growth, enforced curbs on unskilled workers and pushed ahead with "Emiratisation", a policy where local firms are required to hire a set percentage of nationals.

Shopping malls in Dubai now have signs encouraging foreigners to dress modestly, and public displays of affection, such as kissing, risk being punished under the country's decency laws.

In 2010, a British couple were sentenced to a month in jail and fined in Dubai for kissing on the mouth in a restaurant.

Last week, a member of the Federal National Council said that dress code and behaviour have become such an issue for Emiratis in the UAE that a federal law might become necessary.

"We are not asking residents or tourists to veil their faces or hair but we are asking them to comply with our norms and traditions," FNC member Hamad Ahmad al-Rahoomi told Reuters.

A Twitter campaign "UAEDressCode" launched last month by two Emirati women against skimpy clothes has prompted wider public discussion of the issue.

"Whatever your views, the campaign message remains valid: expatriates should respect the UAE's cultural values when in public spaces," wrote columnist Mishaal al-Gergawi in the Gulf News daily.

GROWING CONSERVATISM, ISLAMIC SENTIMENTS

Through social media, the UAE's Islamists have become more vocal than ever and some diplomats and analysts say the UAE is worried that Islamists could use these social grievances as a platform to gain popularity among ordinary Emiratis.

"The UAE is a devoutly Muslim society," said an Emirati source close to the government. "Islam is a fundamental part of our culture and daily life. But we will not permit it to be misused to promote division and discord."

The UAE last year revoked the citizenship of seven Islamists it described as posing a threat to national security.

The Islamists arrested in the past two months are mainly from the more conservative northern emirates such as Sharjah, the only emirate that completely bans alcohol, or Ras al-Khaimah, home to one of the Sept. 11 hijackers and one of the other emirates that has benefited less from the oil wealth.

Many are members of al-Islah (Reform) Islamist group, which some members say has several thousand followers though officials estimate the number in the hundreds.

"It is a dangerous situation and people have been talking about it for years, and we have raised it as well," said Muhammed al-Siddiq, an Islah member and one of the seven stripped of their citizenship, referring to the large number of expatriates in the UAE.

"If you went to Dubai now, you can hardly find an Emirati citizen," Siddiq told Reuters in Sharjah before being detained again by the authorities in April.

"We say if you found one, then you have to shake his hand and say hello, how are you? Because Emirati citizens have become a minority." (Additional reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Sami Aboudi, Richard Woods and Sonya Hepinstall)

 

I notice that the usual suspects are reacting...nervously.

 

You don't think someone based in Dubai who has obviously concerned himself a lot with the topic of Islamism could give us some interesting perspective on these news reports? On the one hand, Mathloom works for the government, on the other hand, going by his posts, he sympathizes with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and holds some views similar to those of Islamist activists. It would be interesting to read his opinion on what is going on there. I would understand if he is hesitant to post his unfiltered opinion, though, considering how Dubai is really a dictatorship and the internet is heavily controlled.

 

The truth is...that you guys cannot handle the truth - so you attack the messenger.

 

You are very defensive about this. You also do not add anything to the topic, other than snide remarks about the thread starter.

Obviously, these topics strike a nerve. You seem very angry.

 

So what do you think about the surge of fanatical Islamism in many countries? Do you welcome it?

 

I see you are avoiding an answer to the question. Are you worried about being open about your ideological convictions?

 

I see you need to resort to personal attacks, which is a sign of your frustration. I just hope you will not one day take out your frustration and pent up anger in other ways.