[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

Mon Oct 20 12:29:15 CDT 2014

Oct. 20

SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia steps up beheadings; some see political message

Immediately after his sword falls, the Saudi Arabian executioner steps 
backwards to avoid soiling his clothes with the blood of the condemned man, 
whose headless body can be seen slumping over backwards in the shaky online 
film.

After perfunctorily checking the white folds of his robe for flecks of red, the 
executioner wipes his blade with a tissue, which he drops onto the corpse and 
walks away.

A sudden surge in public executions in Saudi Arabia in the last 2 months has 
coincided with a U.S.-led bombing campaign against Islamic State. This has led 
to inevitable comparisons in Western media between Islamic State's beheadings 
and those practiced in Saudi Arabia.

Defenders of the Saudi death penalty say beheadings, usually with a single 
sword stroke, are at least as humane as lethal injections in the United States. 
They deplore any comparison between the kingdom's execution of convicted 
criminals and Islamic State's extra-judicial killing of innocent hostages.

But rights activists say they are more concerned by the justice system behind 
the death penalty in the kingdom than by its particular method of execution. 
And critics of the Al Saud ruling family say the latest wave of executions may 
have a political message, with Riyadh determined to demonstrate its toughness 
at a moment of regional turmoil.

Saudi Arabia beheaded 26 people in August, more than in the first 7 months of 
the year combined. The total for the year now stands at 59, compared to 69 for 
all of last year, according to Human Rights Watch.

"It's possible the executions were used as intimidation and flexing of muscles. 
It's a very volatile time and executions do serve a purpose when they're done 
en masse," said Madawi al-Rasheed, visiting professor at the Middle East Centre 
of the London School of Economics.

"There's uncertainty around Saudi Arabia from the north and from the south and 
inside they are taking aggressive action alongside the U.S. against Islamic 
State, and all that is creating some kind of upheaval, which the death penalty 
tries to keep a lid on."

A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry was not immediately available 
to explain the upsurge in executions in August, or to answer other questions 
about the kingdom's use of the death penalty.

"PARTICULARLY EGREGIOUS"

Whatever the reason for the timing, the wave of executions at the same time as 
jihadis in Iraq and Syria were beheading captives has brought new scrutiny to 
the practices of a country whose values are so different from those of its 
Western allies.

While Saudi Arabia has joined U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State in 
Syria and has deployed its senior clergy to denounce militant ideology, its 
public beheading of convicts, particularly for non-violent or victimless crimes 
like adultery, apostasy and witchcraft, is anathema to Western allies.

"Any execution is appalling, but executions for crimes such as drug smuggling 
or sorcery that result in no loss of life are particularly egregious," said 
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights 
Watch.

Some diplomats have said the increase may be only a quirk of timing, as the 
appointment of more judges has allowed courts to clear a backlog of appeal 
cases, and as the rise began after the end of Ramadan, when fewer executions 
traditionally occur.

But the interpretation of it as a show of strength appeared to be reinforced 
last week by the sentencing to death of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a member of the 
Sunni-ruled kingdom's Shi'ite minority who had backed protests in 2011.

2 other men, 1 of whom was younger than 18 at the time of the protests, have 
also been sentenced for their part in the demonstrations and were convicted of 
having thrown petrol bombs.

"If you look at the definition of what Nimr was sentenced for, instigating 
sedition, it shows they want to make sure they stop any form of activism," said 
Mai Yamani, a Saudi-born political analyst in London.

More than a dozen people convicted of terrorism or Sunni Islamist militancy 
have also been sentenced to death this year.

BLACK MAGIC, ADULTERY AND APOSTASY

Under the Saudi Sharia legal system it can actually be harder to avert 
execution for crimes without a specific victim, like drug smuggling, than for 
murder.

Of the 59 people executed by Oct. 16, 22 had been convicted for smuggling 
drugs, according to figures compiled by Human Rights Watch from Saudi media 
reports.

One Saudi man, Mohammed Bakr al-Alaawi, was put to death for sorcery so far 
this year, the third such case since 2011. Although such cases are even rarer, 
judges can also demand execution for adulterers or Muslims who abandon their 
faith.

In Saudi Islamic law, charges of violent crimes like murder are usually brought 
under the system of "qisas": retaliation on the principle of an eye for an eye.

While a murderer would normally be sentenced to death, the victim's family is 
permitted to accept "diyya", or blood money, instead of execution. The lives of 
women are worth half those of men, and non-Muslims a fraction of the value of 
Muslims.

Convicts from less wealthy backgrounds, or without tribal connections who might 
intercede with the family or tribe of the victim, are more likely to die 
because it is harder for them to arrange a blood money payment.

For other crimes, the punishment is usually up to the judge, employing his own 
interpretation of ancient Muslim texts. When there is no victim, there is no 
victim's family to offer mercy at a price. Saudi Arabia has no civil penal code 
that sets out sentencing rules, and no system of judicial precedent that would 
make the outcome of cases predictable based on past practice.

Bassim Alim, who defended 17 men who were sentenced to up to 30 years jail in 
2011 for sedition and other crimes in a high profile political case, said 
judges saw no need for many protections seen as fundamental in the west, like 
ensuring defendants had legal representation.

"The judge actually told one of the accused to my face: 'Why do you need a 
lawyer? You don't need a lawyer'," he said.

Alim said capital convictions were often based on no evidence other than a 
confession, with judges under no obligation to consider mitigating 
circumstances, psychological factors or the possibility that a confession was 
coerced.

REFORM STALLED

King Abdullah announced plans for legal reform in 2007, but judges, drawn from 
the traditionally conservative clergy, have so far succeeded is putting off 
meaningful change.

In 2009 Abdullah replaced the long-serving, conservative justice minister with 
a younger scholar, Mohammed al-Issa. His attempts to introduce more modern 
training for judges and a system of precedent to make sentencing more 
predictable have so far been blocked by strenuous opposition from 
conservatives.

Even Saudis who want reform generally do not oppose the use of the death 
penalty by public beheading. Khalid al-Dakheel, a political sociology professor 
in Riyadh, said the turbulence in the region meant people wanted the justice 
system to be tough.

"You don't want to have a dictatorship similar to that of Bashar al-Assad in 
Syria or (former Iraqi leader) Saddam Hussein. But at the same time you don't 
want to have a government which is weak, especially in such a region and at 
such a time," he said.

In the most extreme version of the Saudi death penalty, known by the Arabic 
word for "crucifixion" and reserved for crimes that outrage Saudi society, the 
corpse is publicly hanged in a harness from a metal gibbet as a warning to 
others.

An online film dated April 2012 on the LiveLeaks website shows a man being 
executed and then "crucified" in this manner, reportedly for robbing a house 
and killing its occupants. A group of 5 men suffered this fate in May last year 
in the southern province of Jizan for a series of robberies.

The reformist Jeddah lawyer, Alim, said he supported capital punishment in 
Saudi Arabia but that the legal system needed to be strengthened to ensure 
verdicts were just.

"I'm not someone who shies away from it. It's part of Sharia. But it has to be 
handled with extreme sensitivity and care. At the moment it can be done on the 
basis of no other evidence if the accused confesses," he said.

(source: Reuters)

*****************************

UK Islamic Organizations Issued a Joint Statement Regarding the Death Sentence 
Against Ayatullah al-Nimr

The World Federation of Khoja Shias along with other Muslim bodies, groups and 
organisations have issued a joint statement denouncing the death sentence 
passed on Wednesday 15th October by the Saudi Arabian government against 
Ayatullah Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.

The statement reads as follows:

We are extremely alarmed about the recent death sentence which has been passed 
against Ayatollah Nimr Baqir Al-nimr as reported by the media for "sowing 
discord" and "undermining national unity". Ayatollah al-Nimr is a respected 
Muslim figure in Saudi Arabia. He is a faith leader, reformist and human rights 
activist, who has long campaigned for an end to discriminatory laws against the 
Shia minority population of the country. This sentence follows a lengthy 2 year 
detention in a Saudi prison, which has sparked outrage, not only from the 
Muslim community but also from the international human rights organisations. We 
strongly believe that the sentencing of Ayatollah Nimr as a leader of the 
minority Shia community will further inflame sectarian tensions and provide 
encouragement to extremist groups such as ISIS to continue their persecution of 
religious minorities.

Therefore, we strongly expect the government of Saudi Arabia to act with 
responsibility and refrain from implementing the death sentence of Ayatollah 
al-Nimr. We ask the government of Saudi Arabia to consider the negative and 
detrimental impact that any sentence of Ayatollah al-Nimr will have to their 
national image and demand that Ayatollah al-Nimr is released. We implore the 
government of Saudi Arabia to behave as a responsible role model to both 
Muslims and Muslim governments around the world.

Signed by:

Al-Khoei Foundation

AlulBayt Foundation

British Muslim Forum

Council of European Jamaats

Imamsonline

Islamic Centre of England

London Fatwa Council

Majlis-e-ulama Shia

Mecca Mosque Leeds

Radical Middle Way

World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities

Saudi Arabia is facing an international outcry and accusations of promoting 
sectarian hatred after a Shia Muslim religious leader from the country's 
volatile eastern province was sentenced to death.

Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who led protests in Qatif at the height of the Arab 
spring in 2011, was convicted on Wednesday of sedition and other charges in a 
case that has been followed closely by Shias in the kingdom and neighbouring 
Bahrain.

Shia Muslims make up 10%-15% of the population of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, 
which bills itself as playing a lead role in the fight against the jihadis of 
Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq. Riyadh has supported Sunni groups 
fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad but denies backing Isis.

In Iran, Saudi Arabia's chief regional rival and the political centre of the 
Shia world, the foreign ministry warned on Thursday that execution would have 
"dire consequences".

In London the Foreign Office stated that it was aware of the sentencing, 
adding: "The UK opposes the death penalty as a matter of principle."

The Saudi authorities have portrayed the cleric as an "instigator of discord 
and rioting". But Nimr's supporters and family have denied that he incited 
violence.

In a BBC interview, Nimr said he backed "the roar of the word against 
authorities rather than weapons". The arrest of his brother and other relatives 
after sentencing has fuelled anger that is being ventilated on Twitter and 
other social media.

"Saudi Arabia's harsh treatment of a prominent Shia cleric is only adding to 
existing sectarian discord and unrest," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East 
director at Human Rights Watch. "Saudi Arabia's path to stability in the 
eastern province lies in ending systematic discrimination against Shia 
citizens, not in death sentences."

Amnesty International described Nimr's sentencing as part of a wider Saudi 
government crackdown on dissent.

Shia and Sunni groups said they were extremely alarmed by the sentence. 
"Ayatollah al-Nimr is a respected Muslim figure in Saudi Arabia," 10 
organisations said in statement. "He is a faith leader, reformist and human 
rights activist, who has campaigned for an end to discriminatory laws against 
the Shia minority. The sentencing will further inflame sectarian tensions and 
provide encouragement to extremist groups such as Isis to continue their 
persecution of religious minorities."

Toby Matthiesen, a Cambridge expert on Saudi Arabia, said: "In the last 2 years 
Nimr has become known by Shia across the world. For many Salafis and Sunnis 
with anti-Shia leanings he has become a real hate figure. In the context of 
Isis, the Saudi royal family is trying to legitimise itself in the eyes of 
Sunnis by being tough. Nimr was a revolutionary who called for non-violent 
protests and the downfall of the Al Saud, but also for Assad to go. He wasn't 
sectarian."

Yusif al-Khoei, of the London-based Al-Khoei Foundation, said he was "appalled" 
by the news and with others was considering boycotting a Saudi-organised 
conference on inter-religious dialogue in Vienna.

(source: AhlulBayt News Agency)

PAKISTAN:

Petition for abolition of death penalty admissible: SC

Chairman of Watan Party barrister Zafarrullah has filed a petition in Supreme 
Court of Pakistan on Monday, which stated that the law of execution should be 
abolished in Pakistan.

The registrar of Supreme Court had objected to the petition earlier. However, 
today Justice Jawad S. Khawaja, during the hearing of petition in his Chamber 
rejected the objections by registrar office and ordered for the further hearing 
of petition.

The process of law requires that any person tried for a crime should have the 
right to full legal defense. The death penalty continues to be recognized as a 
form of punishment in Pakistan's judicial system. The hearing of removal of 
execution law can only be treated through constitutional petition.

During 2007, the UN General Assembly suggested governments who didn't abolish 
death penalty should suspend their execution process.

(source: Dunya News)

*******************************************

EU Disappointed By Pakistan Court's Decision To Uphold Blasphemy Death Sentence

The European Union has expressed sadness and concerns over the recent decision 
of a Pakistani court to uphold the death sentence handed down to a Christian 
woman convicted on blasphemy charges.

On Thursday, The Lahore High Court had rejected the appeal against the death 
sentence handed to Asia Bibi in 2010 for making derogatory remarks about 
Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim woman.

Soon after the court made its ruling, Asia Bibi's lawyer indicated that he will 
soon file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

"The EU considers the death penalty a cruel and inhumane punishment. We hope 
that the verdict will be appealed to the Supreme Court and struck down 
swiftly," the 28-member bloc said in a statement.

"We call on Pakistan to ensure for all its citizens full respect of human 
rights as guaranteed by international conventions to which it is party," the 
statement added.

(source: RTT news)

BANGLADESH:

Presidential Clemency ---- Law minister for changes to constitution

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday underscored the need for an amendment to the 
Constitution so that convicted war criminals cannot get presidential clemency.

"It is no possible for us to accept in future that a president of Bangladesh 
pardons a convict of the 1971 crimes against humanity exercising article 49 of 
the Constitution," he said while talking to reporters after inaugurating a 
training course of the joint district judges at BIAM auditorium in the capital.

The article 49 of the Constitution says: "The President shall have power to 
grant pardons, reprieves and respites and to remit, suspend or commute any 
sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority."

The law minister told The Daily Star that it could not be ensured that the 
convicted war criminals would not get presidential mercy in future.

"I will raise the issue before the policymakers of the government and discuss 
with them how a provision can be incorporated in the Constitution prohibiting 
president's mercy for convicted war criminals," he said.

The minister apprehends that someone like former president Abdur Rahman Biswas 
might pardon war crimes convicts such as Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan 
Mohammad Mojaheed.

He said the draft amendment to the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Act 
might be placed for approval before the cabinet at its November 3 meeting with 
a new provision to try and punish war criminal organisations.

The move comes in light of making Jamaat, an organisation the International 
Crimes Tribunal has termed guilty of crimes committed during the Liberation 
War, face trial for its role in 1971.

In response to a query, the minister said the government would take a decision 
to file a review plea on the life imprisonment of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain 
Sayedee after obtaining the full verdict of the review of the death penalty of 
Abdul Quader Molla.

The government would also move to ensure that the war criminals did not get 
presidential mercy in future, he added.

He has hinted at amending the Constitution to that end, if need be.

A faction of Ganajagaran Mancha submitted a memorandum to the minister on 
Sunday demanding scrapping the provision for presidential clemency for war 
criminals.

It also demanded filing a review petition of war crimes convict Delawar Hossain 
Sayedee's life-in-jail term and trying Jamaat-e-Islami as a party for its role 
in the war.

The secular platform seeks maximum penalty for convicted war criminals.

The minister said the very thought of Bangladesh's president letting off people 
convicted of crimes against humanity gave him a shiver.

"But we've seen that [war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad] Mojaheed and [war crimes 
accused Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman] Nizami had become ministers.

"The entire process of war crimes trial will be destroyed if any president 
shows the courage to forgive any war criminal in future.

"There can be no compromise over this process [war crimes trial]. We must 
ensure punishment for the 1971 atrocities. We have to ensure that the war 
criminals do not get off the hook by any means," the minister added.

(source: The Daily Star)

IRAQ:

Executions Could Be Iraq's Real Challenge to Unity

On Saturday, Iraq formed a new unity government: Parliament approved Mohammed 
Salem al-Ghabban, a Shiite, for the role of interior minister, and Khaled 
al-Obeidi, a Sunni, as defense minister. But one day later, the United Nations 
published a report saying that the extreme use of the death penalty and 
"irreversible miscarriages of justice" in the country are fueling sectarian 
conflict.

The report, which came from the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office 
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the sharp increase has 
translated into 177 executions in 2013, with as many as 34 in a single day. 
This year, 80 executions - mostly hangings - have been carried out; another 
1,724 prisoners were on death row as of August.

"The large numbers of people who are sentenced to death in Iraq is alarming, 
especially since many of these convictions are based on questionable evidence 
and systemic failures in the administration of justice," said Nickolay 
Mladenov, the UN's envoy to Iraq.

The report said that most defendants appear in court unrepresented or with 
court-appointed lawyers who are ill-prepared; in half the trials the UN 
monitored, judges ignored claims that defendants had been tortured until they 
provided a confession. According to Amnesty International, China, Saudi Arabia, 
and Iran are the only countries that have executed more of their citizens than 
Iraq since 2007.

"Given the weaknesses of the criminal justice system in Iraq, executing 
individuals whose guilt may be questionable merely compounds the sense of 
injustice and alienation among certain sectors of the population," said UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. He added that this dynamic 
"serves as one of the contributing factors that is exploited by extremists to 
fuel the violence," referring to the belief of some officials and strategists 
that the influence of ISIS can by curbed by building a more inclusive 
government.

The death penalty, which was used as a way of governing under the brutal 
dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, was suspended in 2003 while Iraq was governed 
by the Coalition Provisional Authority. It was reinstated in 2005.

(source: Yahoo News)

**************

Death penalty fuels violence in Iraq, says U.N. report -- 60 people were hanged 
in Iraq by the end of August this year, and although that is fewer than the 177 
who were executed in 2013, 1,724 people remained on death row.

Iraq should stop its widespread use of the death penalty, which is unjust, 
flawed and only fuels the violence it purports to deter, the United Nations 
said in a report on Sunday.

60 people were hanged in Iraq by the end of August this year, and although that 
is fewer than the 177 who were executed in 2013, 1,724 people remained on death 
row.

Iraq tends to carry out the sentence in batches because President Jalal 
Talabani opposes the death penalty so a vice president orders executions when 
he is out of the country, said the report, published jointly by the U.N. 
Mission in Iraq and the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Judges often pass death sentences based on evidence from disputed confessions 
or secret informants, condemning suspects who are unaware of their rights, may 
have been tortured and have no defence attorney until they arrive in court, the 
report said.

"Far from providing justice to the victims of acts of violence and terrorism 
and their families, miscarriages of justice merely compound the effects of the 
crime by potentially claiming the life of another innocent person and by 
undermining any real justice that the victims and families might have 
received," the report said.

Some convicts' relatives said they had been offered a chance to avoid the death 
penalty by hiring a particular lawyer for $100,000, while many women detainees 
said they had been detained in place of a male relative, the report said.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein and U.N. Special 
Representative for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said Iraq should impose a moratorium 
on the death penalty.

The report said the Iraqi government's view that the death penalty deterred 
violence "appears not to be valid given the deteriorating security situation 
over the past years" and said the executions appeared to be merely a reaction 
to the violence.

It added that the death penalty would not deter extremists who were prepared to 
die to achieve their objectives.

The report also rejected the government's claim that its use of the death 
penalty enjoyed popular support in Iraq.

"Once informed of the facts, including that it has no deterrent effect 
whatsoever on levels of violence and the risks of serious and irreversible 
miscarriages of justice, it is unlikely that the death penalty would continue 
to enjoy the public support that it now allegedly receives," it said.

It also called on the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which has a de facto 
moratorium on the death penalty, to abolish it permanently.

(source: World Bulletin News)

VIETNAM:

Vietnam cops bust largest-ever ecstasy, meth racket in central city

Police in Da Nang on Sunday seized thousands of ecstasy pills and more than two 
kilograms of meth in what they called the biggest drug haul ever in the central 
hub.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Phuoc Huong, spokesman of the Da Nang police force, 
said they caught Pham Thi Nga, 43, at a bus station in the morning with more 
than 2,340 ecstasy pills.

The police then raided Honey hotel that the migrant from the northern 
mountainous province of Lang Son, which borders China, was running in the city. 
They found 140 grams of methamphetamine there.

Another more than 2 kilograms of meth showed up at the Sao Sang kindergarten 
managed by Nga's daughter. The meth was hidden in formula cans and estimated to 
value VND4-5 billion (US$188,480-235,600), according to the police.

The police also found records documenting drug and weapon transactions at the 
family's establishment in the city.

Any one convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 
kilograms of meth faces the death penalty in Vietnam, which is said to have 
some of the world's toughest drug laws.

Firearm trade is also illegal in the country where the military is the only 
unit entitled to own and maintain arsenals.

The manufacture and transportation of military-grade weapons is punishable by 
between one year and life in prison.

(source: Thanh Nien News)

IRAN----executions

A Juvenile executed at Tabriz Central Prison

"Fardin Jafarian" who was charged with murder at the age of 14 was executed 
yesterday morning at Tabriz Central Prison.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), "Fardin 
Jafarian" who was charged with murder was executed by hanging yesterday morning 
at Tabriz Central Prison???s enclosure.

A close relative who preferred to remain anonymous told HRANA's reporter: "This 
teenager murdered his friend at the age of 14 with no intention and due to 
carelessness."

This source continued: "At the early hours of yesterday morning and at the age 
of 18, he was executed at Tabriz Central Prison's enclosure after the family of 
the victim refused to forgive him."

It is important to say that on 05 September, 1991, Iranian government have 
singed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This 
international convention was also approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly 
on 20 February, 1994, and was legislated a domestic law in Iran. According to 
the article 37 of this treaty, death penalty, long term or life imprisonment 
sentences without the right to parole for under 18s are banned.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)

*********************

Human Rights: Juvenile offender executed in Tabriz

The Iranian regime's henchmen hanged a juvenile offender who allegedly had 
committed a crime 4 years ago when he was 14.

The victim, Fardin Jaffarian was hanged early morning on Saturday, October 18, 
in the city's main prison.

Since Hassan Rouhani has become the president of the regime over 1000 prisoners 
have been executed including many juvenile offenders.

In a message on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty 
(October 10, 2014), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian 
Resistance, stated that the religious dictatorship ruling Iran is a government 
of executions based on its history, ideology, laws and daily policies.

While noting "an alarming increase in the number of executions in relation to 
the already-high rates of previous years" Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the Special 
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, said in his latest report: 
"The human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran remains of 
concern." "Various laws, policies and institutional practices continue to 
undermine the conditions needed for the realization of the fundamental rights 
guaranteed by international and national law."

Rights groups and regional analysts say Iran's record may be worsening in the 
backdrop of potential detente with the West," an article published Wednesday in 
The Washington Times reported.

An advance copy of a book-length report on the violation human rights in Iran 
titled "Behind Rouhani's Smile" provided to The Washington Times by the 
National Council of Resistance of Iran notes more than a dozen cases of 
juvenile offenders have been hanged during past year.

(source: NCR-Iran)

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Syrian Extremists Facing Death Penalty in UAE: Reports

15 alleged members of the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham Islamist 
organizations are facing the death penalty in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 
local media reported Monday.

All 15 have been charged with belonging to foreign terrorist organizations and 
collecting funds for them. Some of them also have been accused of illegally 
manufacturing explosives, possessing firearms and launching an extremist 
website.

The trial began in Abu Dhabi last month, though 4 of the suspects are wanted 
and undergoing trail in absentia. Nine suspects are citizens of the UAE, the 
rest of them are immigrants from Syria and the Comoros.

According to the prosecution, some of the suspects have been trained in 
al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham camps to fight government forces in Syria, 
while others provided extremists with logistical support, recruited new members 
in the UAE and raised funds for the Islamist groups. Members of the cell were 
crossing into Syria from Turkey and delivering goods, including 14,000 
automobile engines, via the same route, the media outlets reported.

(source: RIA Novosti)