Alaa Al-Siddiq
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Alaa Al-Siddiq (; 18 June 1988 – 19 June 2021) was a UK-based Emirati poet and a prominent human rights activist.


Education

Born in
Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...
to an educated and religious family, Alaa received a bachelor's degree in Shariah from the
University of Sharjah The University of Sharjah (; also known as UOS) is an Emirati private national university located in University City, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It was established in October 1997 by its founder the ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin M ...
in 2010, graduating with first class honors. She was the president of the Emirates National Student Union between 2007 and 2008. In the context of the
2011 Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation. From Tunisia, ...
, Alaa had begun creating a youth petition group made up of fellow students and would have frequent meetups both in person and online to discuss human rights issues and what they can do to improve the lives of other Emirates. Alaa went on to obtain a post-graduate diploma in education from the
University of Sharjah The University of Sharjah (; also known as UOS) is an Emirati private national university located in University City, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It was established in October 1997 by its founder the ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin M ...
. Following the detention of her father, Mohammed al-Siddiq, and increased state repression against activists and reformists, Alaa moved to
Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
in 2012 along with her husband seeking asylum. She resided there for a few years and pursued a master's degree in public policy from
Hamad Bin Khalifa University Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU; ) is a public university located within Education City in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The university, a member of Qatar Foundation, was founded in 2010. The university began graduating students in 2014. I ...
, graduating in 2016.


Career

Afterwards she relocated to the United Kingdom, where she served as the executive director of
ALQST ALQST or Al Qst () is a human rights organisation that documents and promotes human rights in Saudi Arabia, with a team in Saudi Arabia that researches cases and a team in London that publishes reports and news. Aims and origin ALQST was found ...
, an organization that advocates for human rights in the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
and the wider Arab world. In January 2018, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (; born 1 November 1980) is a Qatari diplomat, economist, and politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Qatar since 7 March 2023 and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2016. He ...
, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar at the time, made a statement in an interview discussing ongoing conflicts with the UAE since 2015 over political prisoners and revealed that the Emirati government had been repeatedly pressing for a particular woman to be extradited to the UAE for trial. A statement on Twitter by Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Athba, editor in chief of ''
Al Arab ''Al Arab'' () was the first Arabic daily following the independence of Qatar. It was printed between 1972 and 1995 and was relaunched on 18 November 2007 as an e-newspaper which is based in Doha, Qatar. History and profile ''Al Arab'' was est ...
'', revealed that the woman being referred to was Alaa al-Siddiq and that Qatar had been adamant about refusing such demands, saying that their legal system does not allow for extradition for political prisoners. Soon after this UAE-based newspapers, including ''
Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...
'' and ''Al-Ain'', released statements about Alaa that called her a "terrorist" and claimed that she fled the UAE using a forged Syrian passport from the Qatari government in order to become a leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...
first in the Gulf and then in the UK. In August 2020, Alaa was one of the main speakers at an online symposium titled "Gulf Coalition Against Normalization", where more than 800 activists from across the Gulf States attended. She emphasized that all activists must resist normalization of ongoing and increasing restrictions on freedoms from their governments. In July 2021, she was confirmed to be one of the
persons of interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...
of the
Pegasus software Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...
, used by UAE.


Personal life

Her father is the prominent academic and reformist Mohammad al-Siddiq, who has been held in arbitrary detention by the Emirati regime since 2012, along with other political prisoners of conscience. Born in Sharjah, al-Siddiq was a prominent Shariah professor who had taught at the
United Arab Emirates University United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) () is a public research university located in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Founded in 1976 by the country's first President, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, it is the oldest university in the United ...
and University of Sharjah, and served on the boards of several financial and Islamic banking entities in the country. Mohammad al-Siddiq was stripped of his citizenship by the UAE, which also denied his children work placements and scholarships, before eventually making them stateless, too.


Death

Alaa died in an accident on Saturday, 19 June 2021, at the age of 33, when the car in which she rode along with friends collided with another car at a junction on the A361 and the B4437 south of
Shipton-under-Wychwood Shipton-under-Wychwood is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the River Evenlode, Evenlode valley about north of Burford, in the West Oxfordshire district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The village is one of three ...
, in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, at around 20:30. The humans rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), has called on United Kingdom to investigate any possibility that her death was caused by foul play. An executive director of the
Gulf Center for Human Rights The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR; ) is an independent non-profit charity that defends human rights among Middle Eastern states including, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon. The GC ...
, Khalid Ibrahim said that after starting work for ALQST "she knew that risk doubled", knowing "what happened to
Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...
". A
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, released a video stating that Alaa al-Siddiq's phone was hacked by the Emirati intelligence through the Israeli company NSO, through the malware
Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...
. DAWN urged the UAE Regime to repatriate al-Siddiq's body to the Emirates to allow her to be buried in her homeland. The group also asked the UAE to allow her father Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq, who is a prisoner in conscience in the UAE, to be allowed to attend his daughter's funeral. Both requests were turned down by Emirates authorities. Alaa al-Siddiq was laid to rest in
Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
on 27 June 2021, as per her family's request.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:al-Siddiq, Alaa 1988 births 2021 deaths Emirati human rights activists Emirati women activists People from Sharjah Road incident deaths in London