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.

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.