Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi’s Attorney-General has rejected the allegations made in the Amnesty International report issued on November 18 titled ‘UAE: Ruthless crackdown on dissent exposes ‘ugly reality’ beneath façade of glitz and glamour’.

Ali Mohammad Abdullah Al Beloushi said there is no truth in what was mentioned in the report in relation to the existence of torture in prisons.

He added that the UAE is one of the countries that is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment.

He also pointed out that the country has assumed first position regionally and globally in the thirteenth rule of law index, according to the World Justice Project.

He also pointed out that this status was the result of legislative and executive efforts in addition to the practices that have been developed according to the highest standards which refutes hearsay sources cited by the report on the state of prisons in the country.

He added that the public prosecution, according to law, is the supervisory and regulatory penitentiary establishment, which in turn carries out its duties in inspections, follow-up and investigation regarding any practice or complaint by such facilities’ inmates.

The public prosecution office also periodically reviews prison records, listens and considers inmates’ demands and evaluates the status of the suitability and cleanliness and quality of food provided to inmates, their medical records, to make sure they have adequate health care and that they are provided with humanitarian requirements and standards.

He also said that the public prosecutor’s office is the entity that gives visit permissions to inmates according to standards set by the law. He also stressed that UAE jails do not have anyone who is acquitted or has finished their sentence.

Al Beloushi also pointed out that the issues cited in the report are not public opinion issues, rather they are crimes according to the Constitution and the law, and all practices that defendants were convicted of and mentioned in the report are offences against the interests of the Union according to the law.

According to statistics documented with the public prosecutor 1,190 prisoners were interviewed in 2011, 1,330 prisoners in 2012 and 1,256 prisoners in 2013.

He added that 90 periodical inspections were carried out in correctional and penal facilities in 2011, 97 inspections in 2012 and 106 inspections in 2013.