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| Arabia |
| UAE arrests at least four Islamists after plot reports |
| 2012-07-17 |
[Al Ahram] [Al Ahram] United Arab Emirates has tossed in the slammerBook 'im, Mahmoud! at least four Emirati Islamists after saying it was investigating a foreign-linked group planning "crimes against the security of the state", relatives and activists said on Monday. Family members said those tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! included Mohammed al-Mansouri, head of the Islamist group al-Islah (Reform), which has been the target of a crackdown in the UAE. "My father was tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! this morning around 11:30 in the souk in (northern emirate) Ras al-Khaimah," said Mansouri's son Hassan, adding he did not know his father's current whereabouts. Interior Ministry officials were not available for comment. UAE, a major oil exporter, allows no organised political opposition. It has avoided the political unrest that has toppled four Arab heads of state since last year thanks in part to its cradle-to-grave welfare system. But it has also moved swiftly against dissidents, stripping citizenship from Islamists whom it deemed a security threat and issuing jail sentences to activists who called for more power for the semi-elected advisory council. Authorities remain concerned that the growing influence of Islamists in post-revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia could embolden Islamist groups at home. On Sunday, the state news agency WAM said prosecutors had ordered the arrest of a group that aimed to commit crimes against state security and challenge the constitution. It said the group was "subordinate to foreign organizations and agendas". The brother of Khaled al-Shiba, one of the men tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! following that announcement, said he believed his sibling had been targeted for his links to Islah, echoing the comments of others who said their relatives had been tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! The UAE last year stripped seven Islah members of their citizenship, saying they posed a threat to national security and were of non-Emirati origin. Another of the tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! men, Abdul Rahman al-Hadidi, was questioned and tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! by security officials at Sharjah airport on Sunday night on his way to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, his wife told Rooters. "We were going to the Umrah (pilgrimage) with our daughters and they stopped us at immigration. Then they took my husband and locked him inside a room and started questioning him," Hadidi's wife Badriya said by phone. "Then security officials confiscated his mobile phone and took him away." Activist said Hadidi was involved with Islamist groups. Rashed al-Shamsi, also affiliated with Islah, was tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by security officers who searched his residence in Dubai early on Monday, a relative said. Activists said as many as seven people with Islamist connections had been tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! since the WAM report. It was not clear whether all of those were UAE nationals. Relatives of three other people said to have been tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! could not immediately be reached for comment. The arrests are the latest in what activists describe as a crackdown on political opposition in general, and Islamists in particular. Some of the people tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! over the past year had demanded greater power for the Federal National Council. Islamists in the UAE say their ideology is similar to that of the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt but deny any organizational links. Analysts say Islamists are aiming to tap into unease among UAE's largely conservative citizens at having become a minority in their own country, most of whose 8 million people are foreign workers. The economic boom in Abu Dhabi and Dubai has given the seven-member UAE an average per capita annual income of $48,000, but has also brought what some see as unwelcome Western influence. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 UAE are rarely targeted as they are known to fund extremists worldwide. |
| Posted by: Angeamp Turkeyneck4941 2012-07-17 12:47 |
| #1 Wonder if there are/were any ties to the UAE registered 'fishing boat' the USN shot up yesterday...... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2012-07-17 02:15 |