Global media is reporting that the United Arab Emirates will try 94 people on charges of trying to seize power in that country. According to a BBC report, the UAE Attorney General said that the group had links to “foreigners” including the Muslim Brotherhood:
The United Arab Emirates has ordered 94 people to be tried on charges of trying to seize power. The attorney general said the suspects had formed a group that publicly called on people to observe the teachings and values of Islam, but in secret sought to overthrow the state. He said they had links to foreigners, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE has arrested dozens of alleged dissidents, who have said they are victims of false accusations. Political parties and demonstrations are banned in the UAE. Links denied A statement from Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said the suspects had used the media and social networking sites ‘to turn nationals [UAE citizens] against their government’. ‘They launched, established and ran an organisation seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power,’ it said. It said the group raised money through property deals and religious contributions. Last year authorities detained more than 60 civil society activists, many connected to al-Islah, an Islamist group alleged by the government to have links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Islah says it favours peaceful reform and denies links to the brotherhood. The crackdown has triggered complaints from human rights groups. The authorities have been accused of deporting and harassing human rights defenders, denying legal assistance to political detainees, and intimidating and deporting lawyers seeking to assist detainees.
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The New York Times reported in mid-January on the continuing conflict between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
The GMBDW has extensively covered the ongoing developments concerning the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf countries:
- A post from earlier this month reported that that the UAE had arrested 10 people described as the leadership of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in that country.
- A post from November 2012 reported on further comments by the Dubai police chief accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of creating unrest in the UAE. As noted in that post, Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan also said that UAE Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested had met with Kuwaiti Brotherhood “mentors” including Kuwaiti Brotherhood leader Tariq Al-Suwaidan.
- A post from October 2012 reported on comments by the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister in which he said that Gulf Arab countries should work together to stop the Muslim Brotherhood from undermining governments in the area.
- A post from late September 2012 reported that the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had denied setting up an armed wing with the goal of seizing power. A post from late September reported 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.”
- A post from April 2012 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.
- In March 2012, a post reported that that Tariq Al-Suwaidan had added his voice to the conflict between the UAE and the Global Muslim Brotherhood by warning that if the UAE followed through on its threat to arrest Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, “it would be a disaster” for the UAE.