U.S. media is reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had denied setting up an armed wing with the goal of seizing power. According to a Reuters report:
24/09/2012 DUBAI, (Reuters) – An Islamist group in the United Arab Emirates denied reports that its members had set up an armed wing with the aim of seizing power and establishing an Islamic state in the Gulf Arab country. Local media in the UAE reported on Thursday that Islamists, who had been detained by the Gulf state’s authorities in the last few months, confessed to setting up a secret organisation with an armed wing. ‘These accusations are not true and are baseless, except in the minds of those who fabricated them,’ the al-Islah group said in a statement sent to Reuters on Sunday. ‘How is it possible that a group of civilians consisting of university professors, teachers, lawyers and businessmen turn into a military organization?’ The UAE is holding some 60 members of al-Islah which is suspected of having links with Muslim Brotherhood organisation – banned in the UAE, the privately owned al-Khaleej newspaper reported. Two other newspapers, including state-owned al-Bayan, ran similar reports. None gave named sources. A UAE official declined to comment on the reports, saying the matter was subject to legal proceedings. UAE’s state prosecutor has charged the detainees with founding an organisation that violates state security, having links to foreign organisations and insulting the political leadership, al-Khaleej reported. Their case will be referred to the relevant court soon, it said.
Read the rest here.
A post from last week reported on 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.”
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that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had detained six members of the local Muslim Brotherhood whose citizenship had been revoked on the basis of belonging to groups that fund terrorists.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.