القبض على خلية من تنظيم "الإخوان" المصري في الإمارات

UAE refuses to free detained Egyptians - reports

Reuters Middle East – 6 hours ago.. .


DUBAI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has

rejected a request by Egypt to free 11 of its citizens held on

suspicion of training Islamists in how to overthrow governments,

local newspapers reported on Saturday.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood last week said some of the

detainees were its members and demanded they be freed, saying

they had been wrongfully arrested.

The UAE has long voiced distrust of the Muslim Brotherhood

that helped propel Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to power

last year after the overthrow of veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt sent a presidential aide and its intelligence chief,

General Mohamed Shehata, to the UAE for talks following the

arrests.

"They (UAE officials) explained that a suspect cannot be

released before the case goes to court," the English-language

Gulf News reported, adding the Egyptian delegation was told the

UAE had a 'strong court system and justice will take its

course'.

The Arabic-language al-Khaleej said the 11 suspects were

under investigation by state security prosecutors over "serious

charges".

The oil-producing UAE arrested about 60 Islamists last year,

accusing them of plotting to undermine governments in the Gulf

region.

Al-Khaleej, citing an unnamed source, last week said there

were close ties between Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and leaders

of the UAE Islamists in detention. It said the detained

Egyptians had given "a number of courses and lectures ... on

elections and ways to change systems of government in Arab

countries".

Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman in Cairo, rejected

the charge that the 11 were seeking to destabilise the UAE.

The son of one of those arrested said his father, Ali

Sonbol, was a doctor and not involved in political activities.

Relations between Egypt and the UAE soured after Mubarak - a

longtime Gulf ally - was toppled in 2011.

Last month, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed

al-Nahayan summoned Egypt's ambassador over claims carried by

Egyptian media that the UAE was behind a plot against Egypt's

leadership, saying they were "fabricated".

The Brotherhood has sought to reassure Gulf states that it

has no plan to push for political change beyond Egypt's borders.

Thanks to their state-sponsored cradle-to-grave welfare

systems, the UAE and other Gulf Arab monarchies have largely

avoided the unrest that has unseated long-serving Arab rulers

elsewhere in the past two years.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)