On 14 September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a damning account of torture in UAE prisons, detailing the alleged mistreatment of two Syrian prisoners, the enforced disappearance of one of the so-called UAE Seven, and concerns over the health of up to 60 civil society activists still being held without charge. All the detained have been arrested as part of a crackdown on a perceived Islamist threat to the federation, details of which GSN has regularly reported over recent months.