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Iyad el-Baghdadi is an Arab writer and activist. He is a co-founder of the<a href="https://kawaakibi.org/" target=_blank> Kawaakibi Foundation</a>, an Oslo-based organization. Ahmed Gatnash is host of the Arab Tyrant Manual Podcast, co-founder of the Kawaakibi Foundation, and a co-author (with el-Baghdadi) of the upcoming “The Middle East Crisis Factory.”

This week, the United Arab Emirates is hosting <a href="https://wam.ae/en/details/1395302808274" target=_blank>a high-profile event</a> billed as a forum for promoting peace in Muslim societies.

Such work is sorely needed, and many of the topics the forum in Abu Dhabi is tackling are vital. They include promoting peace, countering extremism, fostering a culture of citizenship and safeguarding the rights of religious minorities. But is the UAE government a sincere participant in these efforts? Actions speak louder than words (or conferences), and the country’s recent behavior tells a different story.

The UAE government has done little to promote regional stability. Since 2015, it has acted in concert with Saudi Arabia as a major belligerent in the civil war in Yemen. Despite its decision to<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/uae-pulls-some-forces-from-yemens-aden-as-deal-nears-to-end-standoff-witnesses-idUSKBN1WN2BL" target=_blank> partially pull out</a> its troops, it has officially only expressed “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/22/were-proud-uaes-military-role-yemen-its-time-seek-political-solution/" target=_blank>pride</a>” for its role in the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1020232" target=_blank>world’s biggest humanitarian disaster</a>.

Farther afield, the UAE has been caught smuggling military equipment to Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter<a href="https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/uae-violated-arms-embargo-libya-provided-haftars-forces-air-power-un-report-says" target=_blank> in violation of a U.N. arms embargo</a> aimed at quelling the conflict there. Abu Dhabi is also the prime suspect in a series<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50302602" target=_blank> of unattributed airstrikes</a> in Libya that could amount to war crimes.

In 2013, UAE leaders were primary backers of the coup d’etat that ended Egypt’s democratic transition and culminated in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/08/14/the-world-has-forgotten-egypts-rabaa-massacre-i-cant/" target=_blank>2013 Rabaa Massacre</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/magazine/how-egypts-activists-became-generation-jail.html" target=_blank>subsequent imprisonment of up to 60,000</a> Egyptians on political charges. Tunisian ex-president Mohamed Moncef Marzouki has suggested that they <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-coup-plotters-tried-overthrow-tunisian-democracy-says-ex-president-1412829509" target=_blank>also tried to derail</a> Tunisia’s democratic transition. They barely took the trouble to hide their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/opinion/sudan-protests.html" target=_blank>more recent efforts to subvert Sudan’s move toward democracy</a>.

Closer to home, the UAE has been a primary driver behind the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/06/06/the-persian-gulf-crisis-over-qatar-explained/" target="_blank">2017 Qatar Crisis</a>, when (again in close coordination with Saudi Arabia) they unilaterally severed ties with Qatar, expelling its citizens (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/14/human-cost-of-the-qatar-crisis-families-are-being-torn-apart" target="_blank">splitting many families</a>), ending trade and business ties, and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/qatar-blockade-gulf-crisis-190604220901644.html" target="_blank">effectively blockading</a> the country.

Meanwhile the UAE has one of the world’s worst records on freedom of speech and press freedom. The Internet is tightly censored, blocking access to several human rights organizations, petitions and even news. Access to information is not only restricted but also even criminalized — as we’ve seen in the case of British graduate student Matthew Hedges. He was arrested on espionage charges, <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/matthew-hedges-describes-details-of-torture-in-uae-jail-i-was-shackled-and-forced-to-stand-still-for-a4008766.html" target=_blank>tortured</a> and made to sign a forced confession before his government intervened to secure his release.

The authorities respond to civic activism and calls for political rights with extreme harshness. We know this firsthand: In 2014, one of us was detained without charge and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/01/meet-the-arab-spring-acti_n_6085030.html" target="_blank">expelled from the country</a> in which he had lived for his entire life. Others have suffered worse. In 2017, Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist, received <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/03/uae-prominent-academic-jailed-for-10-years-over-tweets-in-outrageous-blow-to-freedom-of-expression/" target="_blank">a 10-year prison sentence</a> for comments he’d made on Twitter. In 2018, Ahmed Mansoor, an award-winning human rights activist, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/05/uae-activist-ahmed-mansoor-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison-for-social-media-posts/" target="_blank">was also sentenced to a decade in prison</a> for social media posts. In 2012, Emirati security forces arrested 94 citizens who had signed a petition calling for reforms; they were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in closed trials. Family members who criticized the process were also later jailed, and some were later stripped of their citizenship.

The UAE’s suppression of civil society activism extends beyond its borders. In 2018, in coordination with the Saudi regime, Emirati police <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-high-price-of-feminism-in-thenew-saudi-arabia/2018/05/20/99d6dfde-5c3f-11e8-b656-236c6214ef01_story.html" target=_blank>arrested</a> Loujain al-Hathloul, a leading Saudi women’s rights activist whom they had been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-raven-whitehouse-specialreport/special-report-white-house-veterans-helped-gulf-monarchy-build-secret-surveillance-unit-idUSKBN1YE1OB" target=_blank>spying on</a>, and sent her back to her homeland. A few weeks later she was charged with treason. Reports from <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/11/saudi-arabia-reports-of-torture-and-sexual-harassment-of-detained-activists/" target=_blank>Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/21/saudi-arabia-detained-women-reported-tortured" target=_blank>Human Rights Watch</a> say she has been tortured and sexually abused.

Like Mohammed bin Salman, the UAE’s leadership is attempting a double game, distracting the West with talk of modernization and moderate Islam while it fights tooth and nail against democracy and human rights across the region. That is no accident. UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/world/middleeast/crown-prince-mohammed-bin-zayed.html" target=_blank>a mentor to Mohammed bin Salman</a>. They both operate under the assumption that Western governments are so eager to see ideological reform in the region that lip service will be enough to dispel concerns about human rights. Where that is not enough, they attempt to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/us/politics/indictment-uae-influence.html" target=_blank>buy influence</a>. Western policymakers must be more discerning and demand real behavioral change, not forums and flowery speeches.

We, too, fully understand the consequences of extremism; one of us was <a href="https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi/status/1188553196588941319" target=_blank>placed on an Islamic State hit list</a> in 2016. We applaud all efforts to combat extremism and terrorism. Yet we know painfully well that death, destruction and repression only fuel radical ideologies. When Arab youths see western leaders collaborating with their oppressors, this feeds their disillusionment with liberal values. By cynically exploiting religious reform, dictators end up delegitimizing it, and making the work of genuine reformers all the more difficult.

Western leaders are right to demand that the gulf states make amends for the ideologies they have been exporting since the 1970s — but the critics should be demanding action, not just reassuring words. The values of moderation, tolerance and peace do not exist without respect for human rights. Trying to separate them is a fool’s errand.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/10/what-is-it-like-live-modern-surveillance-state-look-dubai/" target=_blank>Yasmine Bahrani: What is it like to live in a modern surveillance state? Look to Dubai.</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/09/how-united-arab-emirates-contribute-mess-after-mess-middle-east/" target=_blank>Brian Dooley: How the United Arab Emirates contributes to mess after mess in the Middle East</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/belligerents-in-the-persian-gulf-are-trying-something-new-diplomacy/2019/11/26/2f7cd13e-1093-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html" target="_blank">David Ignatius: Belligerents in the Persian Gulf are trying something new: diplomacy</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interpols-red-notices-are-being-abused-one-ruined-my-life/2018/12/19/d0fd78a6-0310-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html" target="_blank">Oussama El Omari: Interpol’s ‘red notices’ are being abused. One ruined my life.</a>

Iyad el-Baghdadi

Ahmed Gatnash

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