EU parliament adopts resolution to ban sale of spyware to UAE to protect dissidents

EU parliament adopts resolution to ban sale of spyware to UAE to protect dissidents
The European Parliament called for a ban on the sale of spyware to the UAE, which has come under fire for targeting dissidents at home and abroad.
2 min read
08 October, 2018
Digital surveillance [Getty]
The EU adopted a resolution on Monday calling for a ban on the sale of all security equipment to the UAE, as criticism of ongoing human rights abuses in the Gulf nation mounts.

The measure comes after years of exporting to the country software capable of launching offensive cyber-surveillance and follows a separate resolution last week calling on the UAE to amend its Cybercrime Law.

That law, enacted in 2012, effectively banned online criticism and was used to arrest dissidents including journalists, activists, lawyers, teachers and judges.

Last week's resolution also calls on the UAE to release human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor who was sentenced to 10 years in jail earlier this year for Facebook comments and tweets criticising the royal family. 

Commenting after Monday's resolution, European lawmakers said the 2012 law was "repeatedly used to prosecute human rights defenders".

They also said the crackdown on dissent in the UAE was made possible by the sale of surveillance technologies to the country.

Last year, a BBC report revealed that the British firm BAE sold surveillance technology to the UAE that was used to spy on citizens.

In August, the New York Times reported that the UAE had been using Israeli spyware called Pegasus to snoop on dissidents for more than a year. 

The International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE issued a press release on Monday calling on EU member states -- including Germany, France and the UK, countries that sold surveillance technologies to the UAE -- to "take seriously" the resolution.

A report last month by the internet watchdog Citizen Lab reported that the Gulf states -- likely the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain -- are using Pegasus to snoop on dissidents at home and abroad. 

Agencies contributed to this report. 

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