On Monday 20 June 2022, ALQST, Diwan London, the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC), Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and the Omani Association For Human Rights held a conference in honour of Emirati human rights icon and ALQST’s late Executive Director Alaa Al-Siddiq, who passed away one year ago. 18 June would have marked her 34th birthday, and several organisations took the occasion to announce the designation of this day as “Alaa Al-Siddiq Day”.
The conference brought together family, friends and experts to reflect upon Alaa's inspiring life, struggles for justice, and immense legacy for human rights. It began with an opening speech and the announcement of the winners of a creative competition launched in honour of Alaa, which invited members of the public in the UAE and the Gulf generally, as well as the international human rights community, to share creatively their responses to her life and work.
After that, the first session of the conference was held, which talked about the life of Alaa Al-Siddiq, featuring Dua Al-Siddiq, Alaa’s sister, and ALQST founder Yahya Assiri, and moderated by Abdullah Aljuraywi, Executive Director of Diwan London.
The second session covered the human rights situation in the Gulf. Moderated by ALQST's Head of Monitoring and Communications, Lina al-Hathloul, it featured Habiba Al-Hinai, Founder and Executive Director of the Omani Association for Human Rights, Hamed al-Shamsi, Executive Director of the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC) and Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR).
The final session, moderated by ALQST's Head of Advocacy Julia Legner, focused on the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) repression at home and abroad, and featured Matthew Hedges, academic in International Relations, Security Studies, Authoritarianism and Arabian Peninsula, journalist and filmmaker Safa Al Ahmad, Jenan AlMarzooqi, Emirati WHRD and daughter of prisoner of conscience Abd al-Salam Darwish, and Brian Dooley, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs.
