ABU DHABI: Seven men arrested last year on suspicion of planning attacks on the UAE were jailed on Monday for belonging to an Al-Qaeda network and aiding its affiliate in Syria.

The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi acquitted two others on trial in the same case, the official news agency WAM said, adding that they were Arabs rather than Emirati citizens.

The UAE said at the time of the arrests in April 2013 that the men were Arab nationals who had been helping Al-Qaeda with recruitment, financing and logistical support.

The nine men on trial were accused of supporting Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate fighting Bashar Assad’s government in Syria. Other charges included forming an Al-Qaeda cell in the UAE while two of the defendants were accused of setting up websites to spread Al-Qaeda’s ideology, WAM said.

Six were jailed for seven years, one was given life. Two of the defendants sentenced to seven years were also fined 1 million UAE dirhams ($272,300). All of them will be deported from the country once their sentences are served. The sentences were handed down in absentia to one of the defendants, WAM said. Local media said the man jailed for life was the one not present at the trial.