Forty-three Emiratis were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday in the second-largest trial in UAE history, which UN experts and rights groups have widely criticised.
The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal sentenced the men who were described by the state-run news agency WAM as leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation the UAE has designated as a terrorist group.
However, rights defenders argue that the mass trial, which began during the UAE-hosted COP28 summit in Dubai, is politically motivated and marred by fair trial violations.
“This trial is a real parody of justice and illustrates how, under the guise of the fight against terrorism, critical voices are stifled,” Alexis Thiry, legal advisor for Geneva-based MENA Rights Group, told Middle East Eye.
“We hope that these convictions will be overturned on appeal and we call for their release.”
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Most of the 84 defendants in the case, dubbed the “UAE84”, are some of the country’s highest-profile political prisoners. They were convicted a decade ago in the UAE’s largest-ever mass trial.
Held at the height of the Arab Spring, the trial saw 94 people who had petitioned leaders for democratic reforms accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Many of the defendants had completed their prison sentences but were still being held in controversial rehabilitation centres when they were given new charges.
Seven-minute hearing
According to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC), among those who received life sentences on Wednesday were Sultan bin Kayed Al Qasimi, a senior member of the ruling family in Ras Al-Khaimah, and academic and activist Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq.
Others sentenced included human rights defenders Abdulsalam Mohamed Darwish al-Marzooqi and Nasser Bin Ghaith, who is also an economist.
Five men received 15-year sentences, five received 10-year sentences, one man was acquitted and 24 others had their cases dismissed, WAM reported.
EDAC’s executive director, Hamad al-Shamsi, told MEE that, according to sources present at the mid-morning hearing, families watched their relatives’ sentences being delivered via a television screen in a separate room in the courthouse.
In a swift hearing, the judge referred to some of the defendants present in the courtroom by their names, but some only by numbers, al-Shamsi said.
“The decision lasted only seven minutes,” he said.
Jenan al-Marzooqi, whose father Abdulsalam was convicted in the earlier trial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday, said the trial “lacked the most basic elements of a fair trial, with violations more severe than what we witnessed during the first trial in 2013”.
“The entire trial was shrouded in strict secrecy. We did not learn about the charges or the names of the accused until after the court sessions began. To this day, the lawyer has not been given the case file.”
Marzooqi said there was “clear confusion” during Wednesday’s hearing, as many detainees’ names and sentences were not mentioned.
“We are still waiting to get the official document with the verdict, which our attorney said he won’t have access to it until next week” she said.
By law, the men have the right to appeal Wednesday’s ruling, but both Shamsi and Marzooqi expressed doubts that the outcome would change, citing past sessions.
“My own assumption is that they will not appeal because, from the beginning, they knew this was a joke, a play, not something real,” said Shamsi.
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