Abu Dhabi: The State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing in the trial of the clandestine Emirati-Egyptian group accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood’s international organisation.
The hearing has been adjourned to November 12.
The group, comprising 20 Egyptians and 10 Emiratis, went to trial at around 10am on Tuesday in the same courtroom which heard the case of the 94 Emiratis who were on trial earlier this year for belonging to the Brotherhood.
The court earlier said it has concluded the investigation. The rulings of the Federal Supreme Court are final and binding.
Attendance in the courtroom were limited to some relatives and family members of the accused, journalists and representatives from State Security Prosecution (SSP), as well as representatives from civil society organisations such as the Emirates Human Rights Association.
Sources told Gulf News that six Egyptian suspects have fled the country and were reported to Interpol to be brought for trial.
Sources explained that the SSP will charge the suspects with forming and managing an international branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The suspects will also be charged with aiming to gather confidential information on various Emirati entities, and share the information with the Brotherhood in Egypt and other countries.
The 30 suspects will also be accused of attempting to entice new members to the Brotherhood and in maintaining the loyalty of members that are based in the UAE, according to statements made by Advocate General Rashid Ahmad Al Dhanhani.
The Public Prosecution also charged the suspects with collecting donations without permits and obtaining financial support from the Brotherhood.
The defendants are further accused of forming a media commission within the branch’s organisational structure under the supervision of what they called the General Administrative Office. The commission, according to a previous statement made by the prosecution, is the body that collects, prints and distributes news from the country of its mother organisation to sub-commissions formed to educate the branch’s units.
The National Security Department says it has gathered all the evidence and taken the necessary requirements in investigating the suspects, which included documenting the suspects’ testimonies and confessions. A number of police recordings, videos, correspondence and conversations among the members themselves both within the UAE and other Brotherhood members in Egypt were also obtained.
According to an official, some of the confiscated evidence includes documents, pictures and maps of a major government department in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in addition to a flash disk that was stolen from the department.
The Federal Supreme Court assigned Judge Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al Tunaiji to preside over Tuesday’s session.
