UAE rejects appeals of 53 sentenced in mass trial

The United Arab Emirates has rejected the appeals of 53 people convicted earlier in a mass trial, most of whom had been sentenced to life, with Human Rights Watch on Wednesday slamming the decision as “unfair”.

The State Security Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court rejected the appeals on Tuesday, state news agency WAM said, following the defendants’ July sentencing for “terrorist” links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

But HRW said the charges were based “solely on defendants’ peaceful practice of their human rights”, slamming “unfair convictions and abusive sentences” in the country’s “second-largest unfair mass trial”.

“Upholding the cruel convictions and sentences against 53 of the country’s most prominent political dissidents and human rights defenders confirms that fierce repression of peaceful critics remains the order of the day in the UAE,” said the right group’s UAE researcher Joey Shea.

She urged Emirati authorities to “overturn these convictions and release the defendants immediately and unconditionally”.

Many of the defendants had already been in prison for more than a decade since the “UAE 94” trial in 2013, according to HRW and Amnesty International, with rights groups and United Nations experts condemning the mass trial at the time.

In July, an Abu Dhabi court had sentenced 43 Emiratis to life sentences and 10 others to 10-15 years in jail

The public prosecutor appealed 24 dismissed cases and the court will consider this appeal on April 8, WAM said.

Dozens of defendants were brought before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal at the time, according to rights groups.

The UAE had launched a spate of arrests and prosecutions targeting dozens of Emirati dissidents who demanded political reform in 2012, in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring revolts across the Middle East.

Prominent activist Ahmed Mansoor and academic Nasser bin Ghaith were among those put on trial last July, HRW said.

Bin Ghaith, held since August 2015 over social media posts, was among those sentenced to life in prison, Shea had previously said.

None of the detainees were present at Tuesday’s trial and only one of the defendants’ lawyers was able to attend the session, HRW quoted the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC) as saying.

Most of the defendants are denied visits and family calls, the UK-based watchdog said.

The UAE, a federation of seven absolute monarchies, prohibits criticism of its rulers and any speech that is deemed to create or encourage social unrest.