The United Arab Emirates has sentenced more than 40 political and human rights activists to life in prison after convicting them on terrorism charges, in a trial that campaigners condemned as “shamelessly unfair”.
The state-run Emirates News Agency reported on Wednesday that the Abu Dhabi federal appeals court had convicted 53 defendants, including “leaders and members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organisation”.
Of those defendants, 43 were sentenced to life in jail, while a further 10 received prison terms of 10 to 15 years, the agency said.
Human rights groups said the accused were human rights activists, government critics and democracy advocates.
? Press release: UAE: Unfair Trial, Unjust Sentences??
The convictions of at least 44 defendants in the #UAE mass trial of at least 84 human rights defenders and political dissidents were based on a fundamentally unfair trial, a coalition of human rights groups said today. On… pic.twitter.com/b0AAsXcJnS— Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC) (@EDAC_EN) July 10, 2024
The Gulf monarchy first brought the terrorism charges against dozens of people while it was hosting the UN COP28 climate conference last year.
There are more than 80 defendants in what human rights groups say is the UAE’s second biggest mass trial ever, and many have been in jail for more than a decade, having originally been tried in 2013.
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday was human rights lawyer Mohammed al-Roken, according to the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre, an advocacy group.
Roken was originally arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years jail in 2013, according to Amnesty International, after being charged with plotting rebellion.
Roken was among the defendants who had served sentences but then faced fresh charges in last year’s trial.
United Arab Emirates sentences 43 activists to life in prison
