UAE puts 84 civil society members on trial again, sentencing 43 to life
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – More than 80 lawyers, academics and activists in the United Arab Emirates who had been convicted in shadowy national security trials years ago, after they had called for political reforms, had expected to soon be released from prison as, one by one, their sentences expired.
But in a move that stunned the prisoners’ families, the men were all prosecuted again, the majority sentenced Wednesday to terms ranging from 10 years to life in prison, dashing their families’ hopes of a long-delayed reunion.
Authorities accused the men of starting a “terrorist” organization called the Justice and Dignity Committee, and a court in Abu Dhabi sentenced 10 of them to an additional 10 to 15 years behind bars, and 43 others to life in prison. The court dismissed the cases against 24 defendants, the Emirati state news agency said, and acquitted one of them. The outcomes of the cases against the remaining defendants remained unclear.
“It is something that shocked everyone – for what?” said Ahmed Al Nuaimi, an Emirati dissident living in exile in London. “Just calling for democracy leads to life in prison?” Al Nuaimi added. “It’s unacceptable and unimaginable.”
He himself had been charged and tried in absentia in the case, and his brother, who is imprisoned in the Emirates, received a life sentence, he said.
Life in prison in the Emirates generally means a 25-year term rather than imprisonment until death. But for many of the detainees, who are in their 50s, 60s and older, there is little difference, relatives said.
Human rights groups that had spent months raising concerns about the mass trial against the 84 defendants condemned the verdict. Human Rights Watch said in a joint statement with other groups that the trial had been “fundamentally unfair.”
The Emirati state news agency said in a report that the men had been part of a local Islamist group called Al Islah that “worked to create and replicate violent events in the country,” referring to the Arab Spring revolutions a decade ago, which the news agency said had spread “panic and terror” and threatened the states’ sovereignty.
The court “ensured that the defendants’ rights and guarantees were protected,” the news agency said, adding that “these crimes differ from the crimes that the defendants were previously charged with.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
