UAE court tries Pak brothers charged for running ‘Qaeda-linked jihadi group’

ABU DHABI - Two Pakistan nationals accused of running a jihadi organisation, and aiding and abetting al Qa’eda have gone on trial in the United Arab Emirates.

The two brothers from Pakistan ran a jihadi organisation in the UAE and had direct communication with a senior member of al Qa’eda, the State Security Court was told.

The court was told that their organisation aimed to collect money for al Qa’eda and recruit people for jihadi operations, and that the brothers confessed to having links with the Islamist terrorist group, The National reports.

The report identified the duo as AkW, 49, a project manager, and AsW, 43, a marketing manager, and said they have been in Al Wathba prison since October 10, after were arrested by UAE security forces at AsW’s home in Ras al Khaimah in April, after a tip-off from the Pakistani authorities.

Prosecutors say AkW sent two laptop computers, two telescopes, two pencil torches, two Swiss army knives and a tent to Waziristan in northwest Pakistan on different occasions in the past two years, and that these equipment were meant for Islamist militants in Pakistan. His brother is accused of being an accomplice.

The prosecutors also claim to have found a message on AkW’s computer in Urdu that he sent to Mustafa al Masri, an Egyptian alleged to have been the financial chief of al Qa’eda before he was killed in a US drone airstrike in Pakistan in May.

AkW told the court that he categorically denied any terrorism charges, and said all his actions were done out of goodwill. He also told the prosecutors that he had sent the equipment in question to his two nephews as part of their professional work with Tanzeem e Islami, an Islamic religious organisation based in Lahore.

Both told the court that their confessions to having links with al Qa’eda had been obtained under duress.

They were represented in court by three Emirati lawyers, one of whom asked the justices to adjourn the case until a defence was prepared, and the court subsequently granted his request. (ANI)