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Sedition accused level fraud claims at UAE authorities
Abu Dhabi- A prominent Emirati lawyer, one of the accused 94 in an ongoing sedition trial, accused authorities of planting and forging evidence, in one of the last days of the months-long trial.
The defendant lawyer accused security agencies of planting a memory stick, found in one of the defendants’s cars, saying the car was not inspected in the first two days after it was impounded. He said there was no mention of a flash memory as part of the initial seized items.
“We heard about the flash memory, and the owner of the car denied that it was his,” he said.
The man also accused an alleged secret source, who he claimed was a British national hired by authorities to gather incriminatingn evidence on the defendants, for manufacturing defamatory and offensive comments published in online posts and social networking sites that was later attributed to the defendants and used as evidence in the trial.
The defendant claimed authorities had no solid evidence in the case against the 94 accused, while the country was impossible to control because of the way the emirates were linked together, which meant the group could not have been trying to control the country as it was an illogical task.
The man also attacked the prosecution’s evidence from intitial questioning, accusing the prosecution of cooking up the arraignment records before it started its investigation into the alleged charges.
He said statements purportedly from two different accused during questioning by the public prosecution had answers to 11 questions that were word for word, even down to the commas and full stops, before he requested the court probe into the alleged forgery.
However, the lawyer started his defence by slamming a recent visit by the Iranian Shura Council delegation to the three UAE occupied islands of Abu Mousa, Greater and Lesser Tubnb islands by Tehran in the Arabian Gulf. The man said he was connected to the islands and the matter was a great concern to him.
The defendant also told the court that he had been jailed, along with his son and daughter’s husband, in harsh conditions - far from the five-star hotel treatment that had been claimed - while his reputation had been subject to castigation and had been tarnished while he had been locked up.
The defendant had been accused of acting for certain defendants that he had sympathy with in many cases free of charge, but the man denied this claim, stating the only pro bono case he had taken on in the previous five years was the Ministry of Education.
A second defendant claimed before the court that some of the evidence the prosecution had used to support the charges were collected from outside the country, which was against the law.
He said he was confronted by the prosecution with a photo of a permitted mosque under construction and a photo of a renowned Muslim scholar in the gulf and Arab world, asking court: “Do you hold people responsible for a person’s photo saved in a cell phone?”
Another defendant told court that he has no relation or ties with foreign organizations. He claimed that he had delivered a lecture on ‘human rights’ on a request by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwer Gargash.
The judge allowed the prosecution to give its statement, which sparked anger from the families of the accused who were present.
The prosecution said that the accused had tried to conceal in their hearts their bad faith and they had no allegiance to the country and its rulers.
That triggered protests from the families, but police maintained order. The accused’s families told court that they all pay respect to the country which gave them care and support. They asserted that their loyalty goes to the country’s rulers; not to anybody else.
Lawyer Mohammad Al Zaabi, who is attorney of six accused, said in the hearing the procedures were null and void, explaining that the close watch levied on his clients had been extended three times, though the law disallowed more than extension.
Lawyer Hamdan Al Zaroodi said that two witnesses who answered 15 questions appeared to have given the same answer, as if the answers were dictated to them.
A third lawyer, Abdulrahman Belhaj, said there was no evidence available that could arraign his clients. He said his clients were arrested only once their names had been mentioned in the statement given by one of the accused. Belhaj demanded his clients be acquitted.
The defence case continues today, which is expected to be the last day hearing evidence.
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