The five men appearing at an Abu Dhabi court are accused of “acts that threaten state security and public order,” and “insulting the president, vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi,” the state news agency said in April.
One defendant is blogger and rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, from Ras Al-Khaimah, among of the UAE’s poorer emirates. He had joined a petition demanding wider political representation and legislative powers for the parliament-style Federal National Council (FNC).
Another is Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of France’s Sorbonne University. He published an online article on Mansoor’s forum, “UAE Hewar,” accusing Arab governments of avoiding political reform.
They and the three other alleged regime critics — Fahad Salim Al-Shehhi, a friend of Mansoor also involved with the forum, and Hassan Ali Al-Khamis and Ahmed Abdul-Khaleq — entered not-guilty pleas, their lawyers said outside the court.
A crowd of some 100 men rallied to denounce the defendants.
“We are all Khalifa,” they chanted, referring to UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, head of the Nahyan family that also rules Abu Dhabi.
“It was a shock. We did not expect that there are people in the country who will betray the state,” said Khalifa al Qubaisi, a member of the UAE national Judo team, who joined the protest.
“We were insulted when (Mansour) said the people who live in the country are getting paid by the government to remain silent,” said fellow demonstrator Al-Fandi Al-Mazrouei, an economics student.
