The United Arab Emirates publicly confirmed reports on Wednesday that a court had formally sentenced 43 individuals to life imprisonment in a mass trial that has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups.
Five others received 15-year sentences, while five others received 10-year sentences. Additionally, according to Emirati state-run news agency WAM, 24 defendants had their cases dismissed altogether.
Activist groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch first reported on the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling, which alleges that the defendants in the case were either directly involved or associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and participated in efforts to overthrow the Gulf state’s long-standing monarchy.
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The Muslim Brotherhood, which the Emirati government designated a terrorist organization, is a transnational Islamic political movement that surged to prominence during the 2011 Arab Spring protests, which saw several of the region’s longstanding regimes overthrown. While the Gulf state monarchies successfully weathered the pro-democracy storm, many of the regimes, including the UAE, implemented a comprehensive crackdown on demonstrations and alleged dissenters.
Critics maintain that the prosecution has consistently failed to provide substantial evidence of the alleged terrorist activities while keeping the defendants “held in prolonged solitary confinement, deprived of contact with their families and lawyers, and subjected to sleep deprivation through continuous exposure to loud music,” according to an Amnesty International statement.
Internationally recognized antigovernment activists Nasser bin Ghaith and Ahmed Mansoor are among those believed to have received sentences.
Mansoor, who was jailed by the Emirati government in 2017, was awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015 for his democratic activism.