January 27, 2013

94 Emirati suspects are referred to the Federal Supreme Court as part of the case relating to the organisation which sought to seize power in the country.

March 4

The first court hearing of the group of Emiratis charged with threatening national security begins at the State Security Court. Public Prosecution accuses the suspects of establishing and managing an organisation called “Al Islah Group”, which aims to overthrow the government and destabilise security.

March 19

Six prosecution witnesses tell a State Security Court of “further evidence” to confirm the relation between the clandestine group and the international Muslim Brotherhood.

March 26

A key prosecution witness presents six audio and video recordings of what he says were secret meetings that took place in the past two years in the homes of three defendants. One suspect was calling for an uprising similar to those that took place in some Arab states as part of the so-called Arab Spring.

April 30

A group of Emirati defendants on trial at the State Security Court challenge prosecution evidence that their voices matched those heard on taped telephone conversations. Defence witnesses claim the accusations against the 94 Emirati defendants are “baseless” and that the accused had “merely called for reforms”. During the hearing, the court reviews reports submitted by Dubai Police’s forensic laboratory on matching the voices and images in the evidence with the accused as well as reports submitted by financial experts and engineers appointed by the court to examine the financial status of the Islah Society, to which many of the accused had belonged before it was disbanded a few years ago.

May 6

The Supreme Court’s state security court rules that all documents, investigation records and prosecution orders as well as copies of the UAE Penal Code be handed over to the group The judge orders that the accused should be kept in suitable correctional facilities after complaints by some accused that they were being kept in solitary confinement.

May 7

State Security Court sees the final argument of the Public Prosecution in the trial. Prosecution details the list of charges, which say that members of “the clandestine organisation were planning to recruit 20,000 members within four years [to] overthrow the government, [and that] this group was made in order to destabilise national security”.

May 20

The final defence session is held to hear pleas from four of the accused men and three lawyers. During their defence pleas, the suspects question the process by which they were arrested, interrogated and searched.

June 19

Thirty people accused of illegally establishing and running a branch of the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE were referred to the Federal Supreme Court. Members of the group, both Egyptians and Emirati, are also accused of attempting to recruit members to the Muslim Brotherhood.

July 2

The UAE State Security Court has sentenced 56 accused to 10 years in jail. Eight of those tried in absentia have been sentenced to 15 years in jail. Five have been handed sentences between three to seven years and 25 have been acquitted.
 

 

Compiled by Gulf News Archives