Salem Al-Roken and his brother Rashid Al-Roken were detained by the notorious State Security Apparatus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in April 2025, and held in one of its secret prisons. They have not been allowed to contact their families or lawyers and are being held incommunicado, with no information available about their whereabouts or the reason for their arrest. They are the sons of prominent human rights defender Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken who is serving a life sentence for his human rights work. Their aunt, Internet activist Awatif Al-Rayes, wife of prominent human rights defender Abulsalam Darwish Al-Marzouqi, confirmed their detention in a post she published on 9 June 2025 on her account on X. She said that no communication has been received from the two sons apart from a brief phone call during the last Eid Al-Fitr.