85 defendants appear in court

In Monday’s hearing, the court held an in-camera session for six defendants.

A Ministry of Justice statement released by Wam said 85 defendants, including 12 women, appeared in the court. Six representatives of civil society bodies and 21 journalists from different media organisations were present. Ten of the accused are being tried in absentia.

Family members of the defendants were present at the hearing which was attended by 180 people, according to the statement.

Charges were read out to 12 defendants whose interrogation ended last week. Khalid Fadhl Ahmed Jassim, Salem Moussa Farhan Al Halian, Ahmed Khamees Saqr Al Qubaisi, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed Al Rostamani, Twafiq Abdullah Al Mubarak, Ahmed Mohammed Kinaid Al Mohiri, Ismail Mal Allah Al Hosani, Adel Ahmed Abdul Karim Al Zarooni, Fahd Abdul Qadir Al Hajiri, Mohammed Abdullah Al Shaami, Ahmed Mohammed Saleh Al Hamadi and Ali Mohammed bin Hajr Al Shehi denied the charges.

The court said Hamad Mohammad Arahma Al Shamsi and Mohammad Jasim Darweesh were fugitives and ordered the prosecution to assign specialist doctors to those who needed medical care. It also ordered that the accused be remanded in custody.

Khamis Al Sum and Abdulsalam Darweesh should be seen by an orthopaedic and neurologist, respectively, and Ibrahim Al Marzouqi must be referred to an ophthalmologist, the court said. An ENT specialist should check Ibrahim Al Yassi and Fatima Hassan Humaidan Al Zaabi should be referred to Mafraq hospital for a heart check-up, it said.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kemeiti demanded that names of the accused not be published in the media.

He requested the court to shift Abdulah Abdulqadir Al Hajri to hospital since he had a blood disorder.

Defence lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kemeiti denied his client Khalid Fadhl was on the run. He alleged the investigation was a sham and demanded the withdrawal of the arrest order against Fadhl.

Al Kemeiti said another defendant, Salem Moussa, was summoned many times to the State Security Office in Ras Al Khaimah and claimed his passport was confiscated.

“Salem Moussa was held after he had undergone a surgery,” he said.

“I did not run away, my bank accounts were frozen. I reported to the Public Prosecution and the State Security Office and submitted four official applications to reopen the bank accounts,” accused Ahmed Hassan Al Rostamani said.

Twafiq Al Mubarak said he worked as deputy chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports and requested that he be allowed to use his bank accounts which were frozen.

Ismail Al Hosani also denied he was on the run and said he had turned himself over to the police voluntarily.

“I am a citizen and have my civil rights,” said accused Ahmed Mohammed Saleh Al Hamadi.

He said he was abducted after Asr prayer by a group who did not show their identity cards. “I asked them to show me the warrant arrest, but they did not give me the document and they threw me in the car and silenced me,” he said.

The security men treated him well at first, but then turned aggressive, he alleged. Questions posed by the Public Prosecution were trivial, he said, to which Judge Falah Al Hajri asked him to respect the law.

“I was forced to live in cells unfit for humans. I couldn’t take a bath for four days because I had no money to buy soap or shampoo. Moreover, two inmates shared by the cell and they are smokers,” Mohammed Al Rokn complained.

He demanded a copy of the documents of the case. Two of the accused, Ahmed Ghaith and Ahmed Al Taboor, were in poor health, he claimed.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com