UAE detains foreign NGO workers. In an escalation of the United Arab Emirates' crackdown on foreign NGOs, the UAE government has detained foreign employees of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and is preventing at least one of them from leaving the country.
Late Wednesday, the director of NDI's Dubai office, Patricia Davis, an American, and her deputy director Slobodon Milic, a Serbian national, were stopped at the Dubai airport by UAE government authorities as they tried to leave the country, according to three sources briefed on the incident. Davis was eventually allowed to leave the UAE, but Milic was not. UAE Security Crackdown: A View From The Emirates. Pro-government protesters hold a banner with an Emirati flag and pictures of rulers of United Arab Emirates on it as they participate in a pro-government rally held in al Fateh Grand Mosque in Manama, February 11, 2012.
(photo by REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed) Author: Sultan Al Qassemi Posted July 18, 2012 Since the start of the Arab uprisings the UAE has witnessed a widespread campaign of arrest mostly involving political Islamists. Five activists were detained early last year, sentenced then pardoned by the country’s president. Then in December six naturalized individuals had their citizenships revoked for “threatening national security.”