Islamists on Trial Urge UAE Leader to Probe 'Torture'

Emirati Islamists on trial accused of plotting to seize power in the Gulf state on Wednesday publicly appealed to the president to probe their alleged torture in custody and denied the charges.

"For months, we have been locked in solitary confinement in narrow cells flooded with bright light day and night. We were insulted and threatened, while some of us suffered physical torture," they wrote in a letter posted online.

The letter urged President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan to form an "independent committee to probe the violations" and to "put on trial those responsible for the violations that have tarnished the reputation of the state and threatened its national fabric."

The 94 dissidents are on trial on charges of forming an organization plotting to seize power. The group, which includes 13 women, is said to be linked to the group Al-Islah, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The detainees pledged allegiance to the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, and urged the president to lift a ban on Al-Islah.

"We were unjustly accused of plotting to seize power," they wrote.

The trial which began in March continued on Monday and Tuesday, with the prosecution demanding 15-year jail terms for the defendants who were arrested between March and December last year, Gulf News reported.

They include lawyers, university professors and students.

Only some relatives of the defendants, local journalists and human rights groups are allowed to attend the trial at the country's top security court.