After wide spread coverage this week about the story of Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein. Marian talks to Radha Stirling, who is founder and CEO of an organization called Detained in Dubai. #FreeLatifa #PrincessHaya #BoycottDubai #SheikhMo #SheikhMohammed #FreeShamsa (source: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21582426)

Interview that covers arbitrary laws in the UAE @DETAINEDINDUBAI : https://twitter.com/detainedindubai FACEBOOK DETAINED IN DUBAI https://www.facebook.com/detainedindubai PROPONENCE: https://www.facebook.com/Proponence

BBC discusses the arrest of Scott Richards under the UAE's new cybercrime laws that prohibit liking or sharing charities that are not registered in the UAE.

Saudi Arabia is trying to distance itself from accusations that it attempted to block a young woman's effort to flee from her family, who she says will kill her for renouncing Islam if she returns home. Eighteen year old Rahaf Alqunun captured global attention by live-tweeting every twist and turn in her story after she was detained by Thai authorities at Bangkok airport. Radha Stirling is a human rights lawyer and the founder and CEO of the group Detained in Dubai, which helps people unfairly treated by the justice systems in the Middle East. She said cases like Rahaf's are increasingly common in the region, but that few of the women manage to make it that far out of the country.

Radha Stirling, founder of Detained in Dubai, discusses the detention of Matthew Hedges, British academic charged with espionage in the UAE.

A legal representative for Sheikha Latifa, a Dubai princess who was feared missing, said a meeting with Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, does not prove Latifa is safe. International media reported that Latifa was forcibly returned after trying to flee the Gulf Arab state. "Robinson's recent meeting with Latifa in Dubai serves only to act as proof of life but in no way satisfies us that indeed Latifa is safe," Radha Stirling, head of the group Detained in Dubai, told Euronews. She added the former UN chief "failed to address the pressing questions of the abuse and the torture that Sheikha Latifa alleged against her father". Stirling also pointed out that the meeting purportedly took place in the presence of her alleged abuser's wife. The UAE foreign ministry released images showing Latifa alongside Robinson — a former president of Ireland — which it said were taken on December 15 in Dubai. It came after human rights groups asked the authorities to prove her safety when she was not heard of for months. The UAE foreign ministry said on Monday it had sent a communication regarding Latifa to the UN Human Rights office. Stirling has also criticised comments made by Robinson after the meeting in which she said Latifa was a "troubled young woman". "The dilemma was that Latifa is vulnerable, she's troubled," Robinson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "She made a video that she now regrets and she planned an escape, or what was part of a plan of escape. "I had lunch with her. She's a very likeable young woman but clearly troubled, clearly needs the medical care that she is receiving." Stirling told the BBC that Robinson could be heard "essentially reciting for BBC Radio listeners the content of the statement issued by the Dubai ruler's court". "What we want to see is Latifa safe and free and able to speak for herself in a neutral territory," she told Euronews. What are the claims surrounding Latifa? The daughter of the UAE's ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Princess Latifa is said to have tried to flee abroad in March. Reports from campaigners claimed she escaped with the help of friends on a yacht, which was later intercepted off the coast of India. Video emerged that is said to have been taken following an earlier escape attempt showing the princess saying she and her family "did not have freedom of choice". She also alleged she had been confined for three years and tortured. The UAE denied these reports and said Latifa was at home with her family. Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers, who Stirling said she appointed to represent Latifa at the United Nations, said in a statement it was "quite disappointing to see a person of Mrs. Robinson’s stature brushing over what are very serious complaints". "There are credible allegations that a number of individuals were unlawfully attacked in international waters, were unlawfully abducted, handcuffed, beaten and detained incommunicado for a lengthy period of time. "Mrs. Robinson fails to address this point at all. "A young woman, one who made the most serious of allegations against her own family, so serious that she felt that she had no other option but to organise a covert escape out of the country, has not been heard from or seen for a period of 9-months after being detained on a boat near the coast of India," the organisation added. Sheikha Latifa's legal representative says Robinson meeting does not prove princess is safe

British citizen Ali Issa Ahmad has been arrested in the UAE for wearing a Qatar national football team shirt, and potentially faces a 15 year jail term and a fine of over Dh500,000. Detained in Dubai CEO Radha Stirling issued the following statement on the case: “Ali is a young football fan from the UK who was on holiday in the UAE and decided to attend a match during the Asian Cup between Iraq and Qatar. Reportedly, Ali was detained by police after the match because he was wearing a Qatar team shirt, and he was allegedly beaten by the police on the way to the station. When he reported this abuse to officers at the station, he was immediately charged with lying about UAE security forces. “It is outrageous that the UAE would politicise football to the point that a foreign fan with no political or ideological allegiances in the ongoing regional dispute would be arrested for literally nothing more than wearing a shirt for the ‘wrong’ team. The police have apparently escalated the charge against Ali from ‘showing sympathy for Qatar’ to now ‘making false allegations against UAE security officials’; which could potentially be treated as an act of sedition and thus a national security crime. Both the initial arrest and the escalation of charges are clearly politically motivated acts by the police; and Ali is being victimised merely to send a signal to Qatar in the run-up to the World Cup. This is a gross violation of his rights, and the only signal it sends to the international community is that the UAE is an unsafe destination. “Fast on the heels of the Matthew Hedges case; where a British PhD student was charged with espionage for doing doctoral research, and sentenced to life imprisonment; the UAE appears to place a higher value on its dispute with Qatar than on its good relations with Great Britain. “I urge Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt to reiterate the strong stance he took during the Hedges case, to demand the immediate release of Ali Issa Ahmad, and to oblige the UAE to guarantee the safety of British citizens in the UAE from wrongful arrest. Ali did not commit a true crime, he brought his tourism money to the Emirates, and he went to a football game; for that, the UAE will potentially punish him with a hefty fine and a lengthy imprisonment. “Detained in Dubai has repeatedly requested the FCO increase its travel warnings to British citizens who are considering visiting the UAE, and I repeat that request now. Foreigners are more likely to be arrested in the Emirates than in any other destination, and once entangled in the legal system, there is a high probability of suffering human rights abuses. For this reason, the High Court of England has refused extradition to the UAE, yet tourists continue to be largely unaware of the dangers.”