A court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced 43 activists to life imprisonment after convicting them of terrorism crimes.
The Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi found the defendant guilty of “creating a terrorist organization”, state media said.
United Nations experts and human rights groups have harshly criticized the mass trials.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said more than 80 human rights defenders and political dissidents, known as the “Emirates 84”, were put on trial.
In January last year, the UAE Attorney General referred the defendants to the Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi, accusing them of “establishing another clandestine organization to commit acts of violence and terrorism on UAE soil”, the Justice and Dignity Committee.
He said most of the defendants were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement classified as a terrorist organization in the UAE since 2014.
According to WAM official news agencyOn Wednesday, the Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi “sentenced 43 defendants to life imprisonment for founding, establishing and managing terrorist organizations.”
WAM said that in addition to the 43 defendants who were sentenced to life imprisonment, 10 other defendants were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for “collaboration with the Islamic Party” and money laundering.
One defendant was acquitted and 24 cases were ruled inadmissible, the statement added.
According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, most of the defendants have spent more than a decade in prison after being jailed in the 2013 “UAE 94” trial.
Many have completed their prison terms.
But according to AFP, UAE authorities said the latest charges were “significantly different” from those filed in 2013, and did not include charges of financing “terrorist organizations.”
According to Amnesty International, the indictment, charges, defense lawyers and the names of the defendants “are all kept secret by the government”.
It said details could only be known through “leaks”.
Human Rights Watch said three of those sentenced to life imprisonment were Nasser bin Ghaith, Abdulsalam Darwish al-Marzouqi and Sultan Bin Kayed al-Qasimi. Prominent activist Ahmed Mansour is one of the defendants, the statement added.
Responding to the verdict, Amnesty International’s Devon Kenney urged the UAE to “urgently revoke this unlawful sentence” and called for the release of those sentenced.
“This trial was a shameless parody of justice and violated a number of fundamental legal principles, including the principle that the same person cannot be tried twice for the same crime and that a person cannot be punished retroactively under a law that does not exist before he or she has been charged. when the crime occurred.
Khalid Ibrahim, of whom Ahmed Mansour serves as a board member of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, said: “So many activists and human rights defenders will spend decades in prison, unable to watch their own It’s a real tragedy as the kids grow up.
The UAE imposes restrictions on political activity despite being one of the richest countries in the Middle East and promoting high-tech industry and innovation.
The federation of seven emirates, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has no official opposition and bans political parties.
In 2013, nearly 70 Islamists were jailed for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government.
