The prominent dissident Emirati activist Alaa al-Siddiq died in a car crash in London on Sunday.

The 33 year old Al Siddiq was the executive director of the United Kingdom-based ALQST, a non-profit organisation that advocates for human rights in the UAE and the Gulf region.

Alaa’s father, Mohammad al-Siddiq, is a prominent activist who has been in detention by Emirati authorities since 2013. Alaa had campaigned for the release of her father and other prisoners of conscience in the UAE. She previously sought asylum in Qatar.

Siddiq obtained asylum in the UK with her ex-husband Abdulrahman Omar, in 2018, when they were both driven out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during its campaign against dissidents between 2011-12.

Reacting to her death, Saudi activist Abdullah al-Awda wrote: ‘Today, the able Emirati researcher and honest sister, professor Alaa al-Siddiq, left this world, while her father, Mohammad al-Siddiq languishes in the notorious prisons of the [United Arab] Emirates’.

Yahya Assiri, a former member of Al-Qst said Siddiq’s ​death was an accident and that her family did not suspect any criminal intent.

The US-based advocacy group, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), has called on UK authorities to investigate the circumstances of the death