Updated: March 23, 2024

Move follows letter to the Guardian ahead of event calling for release of Ahmed Mansoor

The former UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson has pulled out of a literary festival in Dubai after the publication of an open letter by authors, MPs and campaign groups calling for the release of the jailed Emirati human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor.

Robinson, a former Irish president, had come under fire after claiming on a visit to Dubai last month that an Emirati princess campaigners said was being held against her will was “in the loving care of her family”.

Related: Ahmed Mansoor must be freed now. His jailing is an attack on human rights | Letters

Related: ‘It’s a very big torture’: the children growing up in hiding in Dubai | Katie McQue

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