Dozens sentenced to life in prison in mass trial criticised abroad

DUBAI (AP):

A mass trial of dissidents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sentenced 43 people to life in prison on Wednesday, while several other defendants received long prison terms in a case that has been widely criticised by activists abroad.

The sentences given by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal came in a case described by the UAE government as involving the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamic organisation declared a terrorist group by the Emirates. Activists, however, decried the case as targeting dissidents, something that drew attention and protests at the United Nations COP28 climate talks held in Dubai in November.

The state-run WAM news agency reported the verdicts after human-rights activists said the sentences had been handed down. Five defendants received 15-year sentences, while five others received 10-year sentences. Another 24 defendants had their cases dismissed, WAM reported.

The court ruled that those convicted “have worked to create and replicate violent events in the country, similar to what has occurred in other Arab states – including protests and clashes between the security forces and protesting crowds – that led to deaths and injuries and to the destruction of facilities, as well as the consequent spread of panic and terror among people”, WAM said.

The agency reported on no specific evidence the court cited tying those convicted to violence or the Brotherhood.

The verdict, which can be appealed to the UAE’s Federal Supreme Court, drew immediate criticism abroad.

“These over-the-top long sentences make a mockery of justice and are another nail in the coffin for the UAE’s nascent civil society,” said Joey Shea, a researcher focusing on the UAE for Human Rights Watch. “The UAE has dragged scores of its most dedicated human-rights defenders and civil society members through a shamelessly unfair trial riddled with due process violations and torture allegations.”

The Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, an advocacy group in exile, separately reported that sentences had been handed down.

“Regrettably, these sentences were entirely foreseeable,” centre director Mohamed al-Zaabi said. “From the outset, it was clear that this trial was merely a facade designed to perpetuate the detention of prisoners of conscience, even after their sentences had been served.”

Amnesty International also criticised the sentences, saying the defendants had “been held in prolonged solitary confinement, deprived of contact with their families and lawyers, and subjected to sleep deprivation through continuous exposure to loud music”. Those tried also were “forbidden from receiving the most basic court documents”, it said.