Tyranny still reigns in some Mid East countries where Spring never came
Five political activists have been sentenced to between two and three years in jail for insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The main defendant, Ahmed Mansoor, a communications engineer and poet, was accused of running a website that provided a platform for the rest of the defendants to express alleged anti-government views.
“The court pronounces publicly the following sentence: the accused Mansoor will be punished with imprisonment for
three years for the charges against him,” a Federal Supreme Court judge said on Sunday.
Mansoor was arrested in April along with economist Nasser bin Gaith, who lectures at the Abu Dhabi branch of the Sorbonne University, and activists Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq.
The other four were sentenced to four years in prison. Because the case is being prosecuted under state security procedures, verdicts cannot be appealed.
The activists, four of whom are Emirati and one who is stateless, had been accused of calling for a boycott of September’s Federal National Council (FNC) elections and calling for anti-government demonstrations.