UAE releases three activists detained arbitrarily after end of prison sentences

Three Emirati activists who have been detained arbitrarily for years have been released by UAE authorities after completing their jail terms, a Gulf rights group reported on Thursday.

The International Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) said in an online statement that Osama al-Najjar, Othman al-Shehhi and Badr al-Buhairi were set free.

The three men who are accused with having connections with the outlawed Islamist al-Islah movement had been held behind bars for "counselling" after finishing their sentences between one and three years ago.

They were jailed for two to five years on state security charges in what rights groups have said were unfair trials.

"Najjar had already been detained two years and four months beyond his prison sentence," ICJHR said.

Al-Najjar had led an online campaign for the release of his father, who is one of 94 people jailed in the UAE for demanding political reforms.

Shehhi and Buhairi had also campaigned for the release of political prisoners.

The UAE has carried out a sustained assault on freedom of expression since 2011, detaining peaceful critics, political dissidents, rights activists and academics.