Jordan extradites dissident to UAE despite fears of torture

Emirati state media announced this morning that Jordan had forcibly returned Khalaf al-Romaithi, an Emirati dissident, to the UAE despite concerns that he could face torture upon return.

A Jordanian court had blocked the extradition request on 16 May, with lawyers warning that returning al-Romaithi would violate the Jordanian constitution's ban on extraditing "political refugees."

Al-Romaithi, a dual Emirati-Turkish national, had been arrested upon his arrival to Amman on 7 May but was released on bail on 8 May.

A day later, his lawyers reported that he had been arrested by four plain-clothes officers in Amman and his whereabouts were unknown.

He reportedly sent a text message to one of his lawyers after he was arrested, writing: "They took me."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that al-Romaithi is "at serious risk of arbitrary detention, unfair trial, and possibly torture" if he was to be extradited to the UAE.

Al-Romaithi was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia in 2013 as part of a mass trial of 94 critics of the government.

He had been living in exile in Turkey since his conviction.

UAE state media on Wednesday described al-Romaithi as a "terrorist" and said he would be re-tried again for his 2013 conviction in absentia.

According to HRW, the 2013 convictions were "based on their peaceful exercise of the rights to free expression, association, and assembly."

UAE prisons are notorious for torture, with the UN Committee Against Torture detailing in July 2022 "a pattern of torture and ill-treatment against human rights defenders."