Abu Dhabi: Lawyers for ten Emiratis on trial for belonging to the Egyptian-Emirati branch of the Muslim Brotherhood called on Tuesday for all charges against them to be dropped as they are already serving the maximum sentence for the same crime.

Two lawyers, Yasser Al Naqbi and Hamdan Al Zyoudi, who collectively represent five of the suspects, told the State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court, that according to UAE criminal law no person can be tried again for committing the same crime, once they have already been given the maximum sentence.

Presiding Judge Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al Tunaiji agreed to take into consideration the previous case of belonging to a clandestine organisation. He will take into account the verdict, as well as the previous charges and evidence against the Emirati suspects.

The sentence for case number 17/2013 was handed down in July and the Emirati suspects were given a ten-year jail term for belonging to the now-disbanded Al Islah organisation, which plotted to overthrow the government.

According to the verdict the Al Islah organisation was a branch of the UAE Muslim Brotherhood.

The Public Prosecution has already requested that the maximum sentence of ten years be handed against the 30 suspects for their roles in establishing and operating a secret cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE.

The hearing was adjourned until December 17. The suspects included 20 Egyptians, although six of them have fled the country and will be tried in absentia.

Next week’s session will hear from defence lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kumaiti, who represents 19 of the Egyptian and Emirati suspects.

Tuesday’s session lasted about one hour and half and was attended by 13 journalists, four representatives from civil society organisations, and one from the Egyptian Embassy, in addition to ten male and four female relatives of the accused.

The judge recorded that nine of the Emirati suspects, who are serving time in Al Razeen prison for their previous sentence, were absent. Only one Emirati suspect, who is carrying out his sentence at Al Wathba prison, attended Tuesday’s court session.

As the session started at 10.20am, Egyptian suspect, S.F., stood up in the courtroom and on behalf of the other suspects, told the judge that despite the decisions made in the last hearings, they were still not allowed to see their lawyers or talk to them over the telephone.

 

Unaware

Judge Al Tunaiji then ordered a 30-minute recess to provide the lawyers with some time to discuss the case with their clients.

By 11.10am, the session resumed by first hearing the defence argument from lawyer Al Naqbi, who requested that all charges against his clients be dropped, and said that they were unaware of the information stored on a flash disk, which contained confidential information and that was stolen from a government department.

In lawyer Al Zyoudi’s statement, he said that he intends to prove that the accusations against his clients are the same ones they were charged with in their previous case, and that they are already serving the maximum sentence.

He also said that the Dh30,000 one of his clients gave to one of the Egyptian suspects was not used to fund the international branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE, but was zakat, which was supposed to be distributed to the poor.

He also requested that the charges be dropped against his clients.