Eighty-four people are to be tried in the United Arab Emirates for links to terrorism, most of whom are in custody after being convicted in another case a decade ago, the news agency said on Saturday Emirati official.
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Among these defendants, “most are members of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization” in the Emirates, and will be tried before the State Security Court “for having created another clandestine organization with the aim of committing acts of violence and terrorism on Emirati soil,” WAM said.
They “had concealed this crime and its evidence before being arrested and tried in case no. 17 of 2013,” she added, specifying that a new investigation had made it possible to collect a “convincing body of evidence “.
At the time, 69 Emirati opponents, including activists, lawyers, students and teachers, were convicted of links with the Muslim Brotherhood – considered by this Gulf country as a “terrorist group” – following a trial widely criticized by human rights defenders.
While many of them have served or were about to serve their sentences, they are the subject of new prosecutions for having created “an independent advocacy group in 2010,” the organization Human Right Watch denounced in December (HRW).
According to HRW, other imprisoned dissidents are concerned, notably the opponent and human rights defender Ahmed Mansour, sentenced in 2018 to ten years in prison for criticizing the government and tarnishing the image of his country on social networks .
“Making new accusations based on a peaceful action carried out more than ten years ago is just a shameless pretext to keep these men behind bars,” said the deputy director of the organization. for the Middle East and North Africa, Michael Page, in a press release.
Authorities said Saturday that a “thorough investigation” had been conducted over six months, and that a lawyer had been assigned to the unrepresented defendants.
The State Security Court has “begun to hear witnesses and the procedures for the public trial are still ongoing,” they said.