Amnesty International called on the UAE on Monday to “immediately” release ten men who it said were being arbitrarily detained after serving their sentences.
According to Amnesty International, they were detained “under the guise of ‘counter-extremism counseling.'”
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The ten UAE citizens were among 69 nationals arrested in 2012 and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison in 2013 on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.
They belonged to a group of 94 defendants, including 13 women.
Prosecutors said the accused were linked to Al-Islah, a group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE categorizes as a terrorist organization.
“These men have already spent a decade behind bars for daring to speak out against the Emirati authorities or being perceived as political opposition, and now this injustice is being prolonged past their long-awaited release dates,” Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director Lynn Maalouf, said in a statement.
“UAE authorities must immediately release anyone detained beyond the completion of their prison sentence, and cease the unlawful practice of arbitrarily extending prison terms.”
Amnesty International condemned the verdicts at the time as “grossly unfair” and the charges as “bogus”.
The Federal Supreme Court sentenced 56 of the 94 defendants to 10 years in prison each, the official WAM news agency reported at the time.
According to the report, five defendants were sentenced to seven years in prison each, while eight others who were tried in absentia were sentenced to 15 years.
A total of 25 people were found not guilty, including all 13 women arrested during the crackdown.
Their trial was the largest in the UAE’s history.
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