ABU DHABI: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) can confirm that on Feb.22 Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen was prevented from entering the UAE to speak at a conference organised by the American University of Sharjah (AUS) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Coates was scheduled to speak on the current political situation in Bahrain.

The UAE is a strong supporter of efforts by the government of Bahrain and the opposition parties to resolve their situation through peaceful dialogue.

Coates has consistently propagated views delegitimising the Bahraini monarchy.

The UAE took the view that at this extremely sensitive juncture in Bahrain’s national dialogue it would be unhelpful to allow non-constructive views on the situation in Bahrain to be expressed from within another GCC state.

This decision in no way reflects the strong ties between the AUS and LSE and their academic excellence. However, in this very specific case, it was important to avoid disruption at a difficult point in Bahrain’s national dialogue process which we fully support.