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| Arabia |
| 11 jailed, 4 acquitted in UAE terror case |
| 2014-12-10 |
| The State Security Circuit of the Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted 11 persons and sentenced them to different prison terms for joining Al Nusra Front and Ahrar Al Sham, subsidiaries of Al Qaeda. Four others were acquitted of the charges. The prime accused was awarded 15 years in prison and also slapped with a fine of Dh1 million. Presiding judge Mohammed Al Jarrah Al Tunaiji ordered the confiscation of the seized electronic equipment -- the subject matter of the crime and shut down the website of the prime defendant once and for all. All convicted foreign defendants will be deported after serving their jail terms. According to the verdict, the prime defendant, M.A.Sh. was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of Dh1 million for the second, third, fifth and eighth counts and confiscation of the seized electronic equipment. The rulings were issued after the court was briefed on the facts of the lawsuit, the documents obtained during investigations, and statements of the defendants, and arguments by the defence and prosecution lawyers. The suspects were charged with joining the two terror organisations outside the country (Al Nusra Front and Ahrar Al Sham or Freedom Fighters of the Levant) which are affiliated to Al Qaeda. The other charges were manufacturing explosives without procuring a permit from the bodies concerned, and polluting the environment by conducting explosions of banned and dangerous substances. The hearing was attended by a number of family members of the defendants, representatives of the media and members of the civil society organizations in the UAE. |
| Posted by:Steve White |