Accident or assassination? Prominent UAE dissident mysteriously dies in London car crash

The mysterious death of a prominent Emirati human rights activist and political dissident in a fatal car crash in Britain has sown seeds of doubt in minds about whether the accident was premeditated.

Alaa al-Siddiq, 33, who was the executive director of ALQST, a U.K.-based non-profit organization promoting freedoms and human rights in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in particular, died in a car crash on Saturday in Oxfordshire, northwest of London.

"ALQST mourns the death of its Executive Director, icon of the Emirati human rights movement Alaa Al-Siddiq, in a tragic traffic accident. Alaa was a friend, colleague and sister to all of those around her, and always did what she could to help others," said the group in a tweet on Sunday.

Multiple NGOs, writers and human right organizations are urging authorities to launch a probe into the suspicious death of the activist as many dissidents have been the targets of assassinations in Europe and across the world.

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According to unconfirmed media reports, initial investigations revealed that the brakes of the car that the late Alaa Al-Siddiq was driving had been tampered with before the collision.

Al-Sidiq had been living in exile in the United Kingdom since the beginning of 2019 due to her criticism of the Emirati kingdom.

But this is not the al-Sidiq’s family’s first “run-in” with the authorities; Alaa’s father and activist, Mohammad al-Siddiq, has been held prisoner by the UAE since 2013.