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Alaa al-Siddiq, a leading social-rights activist in United Arab Emirates died in a car accident in London.
Alaa was the executive director of ALQST-based ALQST, a non-profit organization that strives for greater independence and human rights in the UAE and the wider Gulf area.
“With deep sadness, ALQST grieves the unexpected demise of its beloved and respected CEO Alaa Al-Siddiq on Saturday, June 19, 2021,” the group announced in a tweet. “May she rest in power.”
Her father, Mohammad al-Siddiq, is also a famous activist who has been detained by the Emirate authorities since 2013.
“Today, the capable Emirati researcher and honest sister, Professor Alaa al-Siddiq, has left this world, while her father, Mohammad al-Siddiq, is languishing in the infamous prisons of the [United Arab] Emirates,” Saudi activist Abdullah said al-Awda wrote.
According to Doha News, Alaa and her husband applied for asylum in Qatar in 2012, where they lived with their relatives.
The presence of the activist in Qatar, and Doha’s attitude towards political activists at a time when the United Arab Emirates was squeezing voices of disagreement, led to a rift between the two neighbours.
In 2018, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said in Qatar that a dispute arose in 2015 between Qatar and the UAE over a political dissident’s wife.
Abu Dhabi sent an envoy to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to request that the woman in question be handed over to the Emirates authorities, a request that was rejected by the Qatar ruler.
Although kept secret, Abdullah al-Athbah, the editor-in-chief of the Qatari Arab newspaper in Qatar, later said it was Alaa who wanted to bring back the Emirates.