UAE Sentences Four to Death for Joining ISIS

Abu Dhabi-The State Security Division of the Federal Supreme Court sentenced four people to death in absentia, after finding them guilty for involvement with ISIS. Judge Mohammed Al- Tunaiji gave three other defendants a 10-year jail term each, two received five-year in prison and one landed a three-year sentence. However, one was found not guilty.

The defendants, nationals of the UAE, GCC, and Arab countries, were charged with travelling to join the terrorist organization after entering the territory of an Arab country and taking part in various activities of the organization, including promoting the group at a public place, providing funds, managing a website to promote the group’s ideas, damaging the state’s reputation and prestige and insulting the state’s symbols.

The court ordered the closure of the website indefinitely, confiscation of seized items and deportation of two of the convicts after they complete their sentences.

In addition, the court also ruled in the case of six Arab defendants, one of whom is a GCC national, for providing the Houthi militias in Yemen with communication devices, equipment and chemicals.

The court imposed a 10-year prison sentence on three of the accused followed with deportation. One of the defendants, who owned a company in the UAE, was fined AED1 million, and his company’s headquarters was ordered to be shut down and its monies to be confiscated.

The company was founded in one of the emirates knowing that the funds belonged to a terrorist organization. The other three defendants were acquitted.

All defendants denied the allegations and the hearing session was adjourned till the 4th of January.

Moreover, an Arab National defendant was sentenced to five years in jail and fined AED1 million for creating a Twitter account, which he used to promote ISIS. Prosecutors accused the defendant of insulting the UAE and its leaders.