The United Arab Emirates president on Monday pardoned five activists sentenced a day earlier to 2 to 3 years in prison on charges of publicly insulting the country's rulers and disrupting public order, one of their lawyers said, relieving them of multiyear prison terms and closing a case controversial in the oil-rich Gulf state.
The U.A.E. government said Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ordered the release of the prisoners as part of a wider pardon issued on Sunday on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the U.A.E. Defense lawyers and the activists' families had anticipated the amnesty ahead of U.A.E. national day on Friday, when the president has in the past pardoned some prisoners.
"I am very happy and glad," said Mohammed al-Roken, an attorney for two of the activists. "I hope this is a page that has been turned in the history of the U.A.E., and they can continue to serve their country."
Civil-society and human-rights groups criticized the case—an unusual trial in a state-security court of well-respected Emirati writers, professors, and bloggers—saying the accused were unable to present a proper defense and arguing that the trial served principally as a warning against political expression, at a time when protests are sweeping the wider Middle East region. Within the U.A.E., the trial divided opinions on political participation and freedom of expression. Some of the activists and their lawyers complained of harassment and threats.
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Showing posts with label blogger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogger. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
UAE Bloggers for Democratci Change sentenced to prison for 2-3 years
The five-month-long trial of the activists has been seen as a gauge of how the Gulf state, the world’s No. 3 oil exporter, with no tradition of organised political protest, responds to hints of political dissidence in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings.
Ahmed Mansoor, a communications engineer and poet, was the main defendant, accused of running a website that gave the other defendants a venue to express anti-government views. He was sentenced to three years in jail.
“The website included insults that diminished the standing of His Highness the president and His Highness the vice president,” the state prosecutor said in October when he presented his case, without specifying the insults.
The other four – Nasser bin Ghaith, Fahad Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali al-Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq – were sentenced to two years.
The court also ordered the closure of the website. The five, who were arrested in April for urging public protest and disrupting public order, had been on trial since June.
The five have been on hunger strike for almost two weeks, lawyers and relatives said.
“Their health is deteriorating and they lost a lot of weight,” Mohammed al-Roken, one of two lawyers defending the five activists, told reporters. “But I don’t know if they will continue or not.”
One of the defendants had written an essay describing that approach as buying off citizens to avoid political reform.
Prosecutors also said in October one of the activists published a petition urging a boycott of elections in September for half of a 40-seat consultative council. Prosecutors said they had evidence the defendants incited citizens to “breach public order and stage demonstrations against the state”.
Three rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused the UAE government last week of failing to investigate what they described as a campaign of death threats, slander and intimidation against the five.
Ahmed Mansoor, a communications engineer and poet, was the main defendant, accused of running a website that gave the other defendants a venue to express anti-government views. He was sentenced to three years in jail.
“The website included insults that diminished the standing of His Highness the president and His Highness the vice president,” the state prosecutor said in October when he presented his case, without specifying the insults.
The other four – Nasser bin Ghaith, Fahad Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali al-Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq – were sentenced to two years.
The court also ordered the closure of the website. The five, who were arrested in April for urging public protest and disrupting public order, had been on trial since June.
The five have been on hunger strike for almost two weeks, lawyers and relatives said.
“Their health is deteriorating and they lost a lot of weight,” Mohammed al-Roken, one of two lawyers defending the five activists, told reporters. “But I don’t know if they will continue or not.”
One of the defendants had written an essay describing that approach as buying off citizens to avoid political reform.
Prosecutors also said in October one of the activists published a petition urging a boycott of elections in September for half of a 40-seat consultative council. Prosecutors said they had evidence the defendants incited citizens to “breach public order and stage demonstrations against the state”.
Three rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused the UAE government last week of failing to investigate what they described as a campaign of death threats, slander and intimidation against the five.
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