DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates said yesterday it would put on trial 30 Emiratis and Egyptians accused of setting up an illegal branch of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, part of a crackdown on the Islamist organisation that has soured relations with Cairo.
Ties between Egypt and the UAE have been strained since the revolution that toppled veteran Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, a long-time Gulf ally, in 2011, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s subsequent rise to power.
The US-allied UAE has long been distrustful of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in the country. The UAE was openly critical when the Brotherhood helped propel Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi to power last year.
A group of 94 Emiratis is on trial in the UAE for belonging to an illegal organisation and plotting to overthrow the government. A verdict is expected on July 2. Most of the defendants are members of an Islamist group called Al Islah (Reform), which denies the government’s accusation that it is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
A statement on the UAE’s Wam state news agency yesterday said that some in the group had “set up and operated a branch of an organisation with an international nature ... for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt without a licence”.
Citing state prosecutor Ahmed Al Danhani, Wam reported that the group had attempted to recruit new members and received financial support from a “secret organisation that had sought to seize power in the country”, a reference to the 94 dissidents.
The statement also said the group had stolen a USB memory stick belonging to a government department which contained information about the “secret organisation” which they then disseminated and discussed at a secret meeting.
The report did not say if and when the members of the purported cell were detained, nor how many of the 30 people referred to the Federal Supreme Court were Emiratis and how many Egyptians.
Ahmed Aref, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, said he was not aware of the case.
“A lot of these files are not dealt with in a way that protects people’s rights and the charges are trials for political opinions,” Aref said. “They are dealt with using a security mentality similar to pre-revolution times in Egypt.”
The Egyptian embassy in Abu Dhabi was not immediately available for comment.
The UAE pardoned more than 100 Egyptian prisoners in April in an apparent gesture to improve bilateral relations but did not include 11 Egyptians detained last year on suspicion of training Islamists on how to overthrow governments.
Reuters
