106 stand accused of sedition in UAE as 12 more go on trial

ABU DHABI // Twelve more people joined a group of Emiratis accused of sedition when their trial resumed yesterday at the State Security Court in the capital.
The additions bring the number accused to 106, of whom 85 appeared in court yesterday, 12 of them women.
The 12 women on trial are free on bail. Ten men are not in the country and are being tried in their absence. The remaining accused have been in custody since arrests began last summer.
Yesterday the court heard procedural motions from lawyers for the accused. One, Ali Al Abadi, said he would no longer represent his clients for "personal reasons", handed the case files to the judge and walked out of the courtroom.
Several lawyers asked that their clients be acquitted or granted bail, on the ground of a lack of evidence to support the charges.
One lawyer, Mohammed Al Zaabi, said it was impossible for defence teams to communicate freely with the accused while they were in prison.
Six of the accused asked to have a private session with the judge and met him in private in his chambers for about two hours, at the end of which they continued to deny the charges.
All 12 of the newly accused asked for their bank accounts to be unfrozen, along with those of their families and their companies.
Abdulhameed Al Kumaiti, the lawyer representing most of the accused, asked for them to be given access to medical facilities. "I want them all to see doctors, they need hospitals. All of them," he said.
Another lawyer, Hamdan Al Zeyoodi, criticised the publication in an Arabic-language daily last week of the names of the accused, and asked that the media be prohibited from doing so "to maintain the justice system".
One of the accused, M?R, asked the court to provide him and his co-accused with a copy of the case file. He also asked for all those on trial to be given medical treatment, particularly those in need of "psychological" treatment. Another asked for pens and paper to write notes.
F?Z, one of the women on trial, said she was scheduled to have heart surgery soon in the United States, and asked for permission to leave the country for a month to receive the treatment. The judge ruled that if she could prove the treatment was needed she should be treated in Mafraq Hospital.
The judge also ordered all the accused to be given access to a doctor.
Most of those on trial are members of Al Islah, an organisation linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. They are charged with forming and running an illegal political organisation that sought to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power; of seeking to turn public opinion against the leadership by fabricating reasons for government action taken against them; of illegally using zakat funds to buy stocks and companies and to trade in property; and of accepting help from Brotherhood affiliates abroad.
The women are accused of administering, participating in and organising the women's committee of the illegal organisation, and of training recruits.
All the accused deny the charges. The trial was adjourned until March 18.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae