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Second hearing on security case today

The hearing of the detainees will be presided over by Counselor Judge Falah Al Hajiri, and the defendants include A.A.Z., M.S.A.H, A.H., A.H.A.R., F.J., I.A.H., A.A.M, T.Y.A.M and S.A.H.

During a hearing held last Monday, all the defendants, allegedly belonging to an organisation known as ‘Hayatona’ — Arabic for ‘Our Life’, have been accused of compromising UAE security and having links to foreign organisations spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Qatar, denied the charges against them.

The Public Prosecution read out the charges which included other indictments such as collecting money to support the activity of the organisation and attracting individuals in a way that their loyalty should be to the organisation and not to the country.

The defendants were also charged with setting up a media committee serving the purposes of the organisation. The duties fell on four members of the secret organisation and they were entrusted with supervising electronic programmes, establishing media institutions and TV satellite channels for the organisation. The media committee was allegedly formed to broadcast news, incite the public to stage demonstrations inside and outside the country, and contact international associations with the aim of undermining the country’s stature.

After what was referred to as the ‘Arab Spring’, six of the defendants including the prime suspect, according to the allegations of the Public Prosecution, had taken up work in the public sector and had been assigned the duties of the back-up committee for external work. The duties of the said committee included preparing the public opinion through incitement, in their bid towards gaining power.

The Public Prosecution had called on the court to impose the severest penalties against the defendants, and demanded dissolving the organisation, disbanding and confiscating all that is associated with it. In the first hearing, the judge asked to hear all the defendants’ demands. Defence lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kemeiti told the court that some of his clients had been exposed to moral and bodily assault during their arrest.

One of the accused, M.A.R.A.E., expressed his objection before the court to the way he had been treated by the security, claiming he was beaten up and blindfolded.

However, another defendant N.A.A. asked for a chair so he could offer prayers and another accused O.A.S. requested to increase the phone calls set aside by the court so that they could contact their families and he asked that the solitary confinement be ceased.

Another defendant, M.A.R., demanded that he be given a pen and paper in his cell so he could write down his own defence. All the demands given by the accused were registered.

For its part, the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA) asked the attorney-general to investigate the allegations made by the accused regarding torture, forced disappearance and ill-treatment, and fulfill the judge’s order to shift the accused to legal prisons.

The EHRA also asked the attorney-general to probe the infringements claimed by the accused that happened during the first hearing.

The case holds No 17/2013 state security and has as many as 6,000-page arraignment record.

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