UAE: Emirati Dissident Faces Risk Of Torture At Home, HRW Says

The detention of an Emirati dissident in Syria raises serious concerns that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will pressure Syrian authorities to extradite him, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. 

An informed source told Human Rights Watch that Syrian authorities detained Jasem al-Shamsi, 55, at a checkpoint in the Damascus countryside on November 6, 2025, and have held him since without disclosing the legal basis for his detention. The UAE has pressed Lebanon and Jordan to return dissidents in recent years.