(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) An 18-year-old Emirati boy who joined Al Nusra terror group in Syria has been sentenced to five years in jail.
Presiding judge of the State Security Circuit of the Supreme Federal Court on Monday found Jaber Saleh Maraei Ali Hassan Al Karbi, guilty of receiving military training and fighting alongside Al Nusra Front in Syria. The Abu Dhabi-based court also ordered that Rashid Abdullah Rashid Salem Al Mutawaa Al Naqabi be remanded in an advice centre of the Ministry of Interior and the security agencies, to be put under watch, as well as ban him from travel for six months for seeking to join terror organisations and promote their thoughts and well as encouraging youth to adopt their ideas. The hearings started at 11.30am on Monday and reviewed 13 cases related to state security, and defendants' intent to join terror organisations and communicating with the terrorist Hezbollah Party. Two charged with attempting to join Daesh The Public prosecutors charged two suspects, one from the Comoros and an Emirati, of attempting to join Daesh and promote its thoughts and ideologies by calling for the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate. Other charges leveled against the pair include travelling to Syria and received training by the members of the terrorist Ahrar Al Sham group, which is fighting in Syria. Hamdan Al Zaioudi, defence lawyer of the prime suspect defended his client and called for his acquittal and said the investigations and arrest of his client were null and void. Al Zaioudi said: "My client was arrested in January 2016, almost nine months before the promulgation and issue of the Anti-Terror crimes Act in September 2014, and accordingly he should not be tried within the purview of the law, since it had not been issued when my client was apprehended. Al Zaioudi also requested the court to communicate with Dubai Hospital to get the medical file of his client. "My client has been categorised as special needs, and had been in periodic medication at the hospital," he said. The court adjourned the hearing to June 13 to view the medical file of the suspect before communicating with Dubai Hospital. The court also reviewed seven other cases, prominent among which was a case involving spying for Hezbollah. The case was put off to May 30 to listen to the pleading of the defense attorneys. Four other cases were also postponed, and two cases were reserved for pronouncing the verdict on June 6, 2016. The duo has been accused of preparing to join Al Nusra terror group in Syria by communicating with a member of the terror group to help them enter the Syrian territories via Turkey. Case against three-member cell heard In a fresh case, the court heard the indictments sheet submitted by the state security prosecution against a three-member cell comprising two Emiratis and one citizen of Comoros Islands. The trio has been accused of preparing to join the Al Nusra terror group in Syria by communicating with a member of the terror group to help them enter the Syrian territories via Turkey. In its charge sheets, the public prosecution said the prime suspect - HHAV - a Comoros Islands citizen aged 37, had packed his bags and left the UAE after being abetted by the second suspect, Kh H MA, an Emirati aged 23 and the third suspect Y A S A, also Emirati, aged 25. But he was arrested in a neighbouring country before being extradited and handed over to the UAE authorities. "The Comoros Island suspect was wanted in the UAE for performing terrorist activities, and also accused of leaving the country illegally without being subjected to the rules of check in and checkout exits and entry and without his passport being stamped with an exit seal," the court heard. The public prosecution also charged him with possessing a firearm without having a permit and posting information and articles online and on WhatsApp promoting Daesh. The other two Emirati suspects were accused of covering up the prime suspect and their knowledge of what he was up to, and not informing the official authorities. The court put off the case to the hearing of June 20 to listen to the pleadings of the defence.
Mustafa Al Zarooni