An Emirati court Tuesday sentenced a local man to three years in jail after he posted social media reports on the imprisonment of his father, convicted along with dozens of other Islamists.

A state security court convicted the defendant for "creating a page on a social network under his own name to spread false information and ideas, and to mock and damage the reputation and status of state institutions," said the official news agency WAM.

When the United Arab Emirates released a blacklist of "terrorist groups" this month, many prominent Western charities were shocked to find themselves cited alongside al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

There was little surprise to see the Muslim Brotherhood topping the list, given the Gulf state's relentless efforts against the regional Islamist group.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visits France and Italy next week in his first European trip since ousting his Islamist predecessor and overseeing a crackdown that damaged Egypt's international standing.

Sisi, who was then army chief, overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, prompting a wave of violence between Morsi supporters and security forces that drew rebukes from the U.S. and Europe. 

Jordan has arrested the deputy leader of the country's Muslim Brotherhood after he criticized the United Arab Emirates for classifying the movement as a "terrorist organization", a judicial source said Friday.

Zaki Bani Rsheid was summoned late Thursday for questioning by the state security prosecutor who later ordered his detention for 15 days, which could be extended.

An American imprisoned for a month in the United Arab Emirates for taking photographs of a sensitive site has been released, a spokeswoman for his family said.

Robert Alan Black was in Abu Dhabi for a conference on creativity when he was arrested October 21 after taking a picture in a restricted area during his morning walk, said the Friends of Alan Black.

The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday it was committed to improving the protection of human rights, criticizing as "one sided and inaccurate" accusations by Amnesty International that it engages in repression.

"The UAE will continue its work to strengthen the protection of human rights," the foreign ministry said, a day after the rights watchdog released a report entitled "There is no freedom here: Silencing dissent in the UAE."

The United Arab Emirates is expected to reappoint an ambassador in Lebanon two years after keeping a low diplomatic representation in Beirut.

According to the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published on Wednesday, Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum informed PM Tammam Salam, who returned on Tuesday night from a two-day official visit to UAE, that his country will raise its diplomatic representation in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Qatar has resumed his duties in Doha eight months after being withdrawn in an unprecedented diplomatic spat between Gulf states, media reports said on Tuesday.

Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama all withdrew their envoys to Doha in March, sparking one of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council's worst diplomatic rows since its creation in 1981.

An exiled son-in-law of deposed Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali returned to the capital Tuesday to challenge a jail sentence for having a gun, his lawyer told Agence France Presse.

Businessman Slim Chiboub, who has been living in the United Arab Emirates since Ben Ali fled Tunisia in January 2011 during a popular uprising, had been sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for illegal possession of a firearm.

Amnesty International on Tuesday accused the United Arab Emirates, which hosts a Formula One race this weekend, of repression it said is the "ugly reality" behind the glitz and glamour of the event.

In a report titled "There is no freedom here: Silencing dissent in the UAE," the human rights watchdog speaks of a "climate of fear" and the "extreme lengths" the authorities go to in order to stamp out opposition or calls for reform.