Man gets 40 years in jail for terror activities and arson

A 30-year-old Pakistani man, who used a spear gun designed for hunting fish, to attack foreign citizens, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder attempt with a terror intention.
The state security circuit of the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals sentenced the accused, A.F., on Wednesday to another 15 years in jail and deportation for arson charges. He was also ordered to pay all the expenses in the case. According to the court documents, he set eight vehicles on fire to terrorise others. His total jail term will be 40 years.
In another case, the court ordered transferring six Emirati youths to a counselling centre of the Ministry of Interior after the state security prosecution accused them of posing a terrorism threat.
The court also imposed a travel ban on them during their stay at the counselling centre and ordered withdrawing their passports for six months. It also ordered the youths be subjected to security monitoring.
The court also reviewed the case of a 59-year-old Iranian, H.R.M.H., who is accused of carrying out a hostile act against a friendly foreign country, the USA. The defendant, manager of an export and import trading company operating inside UAE, allegedly imported a cable and view panel equipment from the US with UAE as its final destination for use. However, he rather re-exported the device to Iran, in explicit violation of the law and the UN Security Council ban imposed on Iran.
The court confronted the defendant with an official document issued by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, stating that it rejected the defendant's request to export the device to Iran.
The defendant denied the charges and told the court that he had imported the apparatus from China via a Chinese company operating in the US, where it had stored the device in its stores.
"I had no idea that re-exporting the device was a breach of the laws," he told the court. His lawyer requested the court to adjourn the hearing, to procure the documents and the investigation file in order to chalk out a defence note.
The court ordered the hearing be postponed to July 29 to hear the pleading of the defence attorney.
4 accused of bid to join Daesh
In another case, the state security prosecution accused four Jordanians living in the UAE, aged between 35 and 38, of trying to join the training camps of Daesh by travelling from the UAE to Turkey, and sneaking into Syrian territories. They are also accused of setting up social media accounts with an intent to promote the ideologies of Daesh.
According to the indictment sheet, the suspects had also published articles, and posted pictures and video clips that promoted Daesh ideology and insulted a sisterly GCC country.
The state security prosecution also charged them with possessing live ammunition without obtaining an official permit.
The defendants denied all the charges, and said the ammunition which they were carrying belonged to the shooting club where they work in. Defence lawyer Asli Al Mannai urged the court to adjourn the hearing, to view the investigation files and prepare the defence note. The court adjourned the hearing to July 19.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com

Mustafa Al Zarooni

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com