Gulf media is reporting on the trial in Abu Dhabi of what are described as “activists belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood” and who reportedly admitted that they have engaged in financial actives and communicated with “the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and other bodies.” According to a Gulf Today report:
September 20, 2012 ABU DHABI: Activists belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, who were detained in the UAE in a legal rights case, are being tried based on the Article No.180 of the Penal Code which bans establishing clandestine organisations, official sources revealed to Al Khaleej. The sources categorically denied claims that the detainees have been tortured, asserting that the allegation is pure fabrication. The sources stressed that torture is not in tune with values of the Emirates; nor does it conform to the qualities of the country’s Rulers. Al Khaleej learnt that the Public Prosecution has gone a long way in the interrogation of 60 detainees, whose cases would be referred to the concerned court soon. Some of them acknowledged the presence of a clandestine organisation in the country to which they belong, the official sources said. The activists also admitted that they have sought to collect money, investments and portfolio of their own, adding that they communicate with the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and other bodies. The prosecution learnt that they run branches and offices to promote their ideas all over the Emirates. Members of the organisation also admitted that they took advantage of the Arab Spring and their strategic objective is to seize power and establish a religious government or the State of Caliphate. The prosecution charged the detainees with forming an organisation that does harm to the state security and the principles on which the state is based on, in addition to having contacts with foreign communities, in a bid to doing harm to the political leadership.
Read the rest here.
A post from April reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had detained six members of the local Muslim Brotherhood whose citizenship had been revoked on the basis of belonging to groups that fund terrorists. Earlier posts reported on allegations by the Dubai police chief that the Muslim Brotherhood is using social media to attack the UAE and his threat to arrest Qaradawi who criticized the UAE for revoking the visas of Syrians demonstrating against the regime in Damascus. Other posts have discussed comments by Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Al-Suwaidan who appeared to threaten the UAE with “disaster” if Qaradawi was arrested.
For background on the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE, go here.