TRIAL STARTS IN UAE FOR 94 CHARGED IN COUP PLOT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ninety four people went on trial Monday in the United Arab Emirates on charges of trying to overthrow the government, the latest in a growing crackdown in the Gulf nation against perceived political or security threats inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings.

Amid tight security, about 200 relatives were bussed to the court in the heart of the capital Abu Dhabi for the morning hearing. The road leading the court was closed and authorities barred international media, including The Associated Press, and several rights groups from attending.

The defendants — unnamed doctors, academics, lawyers and other professionals — have been accused of building a secret network to plot the coup and raising money through real estate and other deals.

According to a government statement, the 94 are suspected of links to the Muslim Brotherhood and other unnamed parties they allegedly contacted for expertise and financial support in their plot. The detained include men and women who were arrested over the past year.

They are believed to be part of a loosely knit Islamist network known as al-Islah or Reform which advocates a greater public voice in UAE's tightly controlled affairs.

Rights groups have criticized the crackdown and it has also raised tensions with Egypt, which is governed by the Brotherhood. In the Gulf federation, the arrest of the 94 is seen as part of what appears to be growing intolerance for any criticism of the government or its leaders.

Last year, the UAE set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes that include giving authorities wider leeway to crack down on web activists for offenses such as mocking the country's rulers or calling for demonstrations. And last week, a scholar from the London School of Economics was barred from entering the country — prompting the school to pull out of a planned conference.

Several relatives waiting to be bussed to the hearing in Abu Dhabi said the charges against their relatives were baseless and said they hoped justice would eventually prevail either through the courts or by way of the country's rulers. They said their family members had no links to the Brotherhood and only wanted to see greater democracy in the country, including giving the greater powers to the Federal National Council, the largely toothless public advisory body in the country.

"If anybody reads the accusations that are put in their file, they will surely observe these are only based on suspicions," said Khalid al-Roken, whose brother and nephew were among those on trial. "They were meeting in houses so that means they have secret organizations arranging for a coup? All people have gatherings in their houses. Where does that constitute a threat to the government?"

Others, however, were less optimistic and questioned why it took authorities several months to charge the suspects. They said their relatives were held at undisclosed locations, in solitary confinement and in tiny rooms with nothing more than mattress on the floor.

"It's unfair. Until now, I have had no justice," said a man who identified himself only as Omar, fearing for his own security as his parents, an aunt and uncle were among the detainees. They were arrested in the neighboring emirate of Ras Al-Khaima seven-and-half months ago.

"It's my father, my mother. I have little brothers. Who will take care of them?" he said. "I don't know when they made these accusations. I don't understand the law here."

By mid-day Monday there was no information from the authorities nor in the local media on the hearing.

About two dozen international lawyers and rights groups, including Amnesty International, had demanded to attend the session but did not receive permission. Several reporters and activists were turned away by police before they reached the court and rebuffed when they tried to get answers from the Ministry of Justice.

"They are hindering any kind of observation by the public," said Ketil Lund, a former Norwegian Supreme Court justice who was part of an International Commission of Jurists delegation.

"That raises concerns about the fairness of the trial," he said. "I think they (authorities) are afraid to have it open. They are afraid the trial and the treatment of the detainees are not according to international standards."

Melanie Gingell, the U.K.-based Gulf Center For Human Rights, said her group requested to attend the hearing over the weekend but so far had heard nothing.

To her, the crackdown and the trial were another indication of the Emirates abandoning its commitment to democracy and the Arab Charter, which she said the UAE signed, as well as to calls for free speech and freedom of association.

"They have been taking small steps progressing toward democracy but in the last two years it seems they have been retracting greatly on that progress when you see an instance like this where international lawyers from the United Kingdom, Norway are turned away," Gingell said.

"It shows the UAE has something to be very scared of. They don't want the international community to see what is going on in (their) court system, in their justice system," she added.

UAE denounces EU human rights criticism

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday denounced a European Union resolution which criticized the human rights situation in the Gulf country, saying it made unfounded accusations against it.

The resolution was “biased and prejudiced (and) throws accusations haphazardly without substantiating the facts,” Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said in a statement.

He said that the UAE, one of the most liberal countries of the Gulf, “represents a society of people of over 200 different nationalities who co-exist in an atmosphere of openness and tolerance.”

The EU Parliament on Friday issued a resolution criticizing the human rights situation in the Emirates, highlighting the repression of political prisoners and the exploitation of migrant workers.

The resolution was “unfair, which impacted its credibility,” Gargash said, and “adopted unsubstantiated accusations by groups and organizations that made it a top priority to tarnish UAE’s reputation.”

He added that it “purposely overlooks the milestones made by the UAE and endorsed by the relevant international organizations, particularly in the areas of foreign labor, comprehensive social care and women’s empowerment.”

The EU resolution condemned “harassment,” “restrictions on freedom of expression” and “illegal imprisonment” suffered by pro-democracy activists in the UAE, and demanded the “unconditional release of prisoners of conscience,” which it says number 64.

It also demanded the UAE implement reforms to put an end to abuses suffered by migrant workers, especially women.

Gargash said the UAE had “not been summoned to this discussion,” which it requested in vain to be deferred in order to have a chance to express its points of view.

The UAE, which escaped the sweeping upheaval of the Arab Spring popular protests that overthrew several Middle Eastern and North African dictators last year, said in July it dismantled a group plotting against state security, from among 60 Islamists it had detained.

Emirates readies oil export detour to avoid Hormuz

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- By night, the lights of dozens of ships anchored off this eastern Emirati port create the mirage of a far-off city at sea.

The crowded anchorage reflects Fujairah's rise as one of the world's busiest maritime refueling stations. Soon it will also become a vital new exit route for Arabian crude oil destined for world markets.

The United Arab Emirates is nearing completion of a pipeline through the mountainous sheikdom that will allow it to reroute the bulk of its oil exports around the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the path for a fifth of the world's oil supply.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strategically sensitive waterway, which is patrolled by Iranian and U.S. warships, in retaliation for ramped-up Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

That threat has raised worries among Gulf countries that conflicts could block the route to market for their most lucrative resource. But only the UAE and Oman have coastlines on Indian Ocean side of the strait that would enable them to go around the chokepoint by land. Saudi Arabia also can avoid Hormuz by shipping its Gulf fields' oil production out of its Red Sea ports, but it would have to increase the capacity of those ports and of pipelines running across the breadth of the country to handle its total output.

With the Emirates' new pipeline, oil from fields deep in the Abu Dhabi desert would travel 236 miles (380 kilometers) overland and across the barren Hajar mountains to this fast-growing port on edge of the Indian Ocean.

At the moment, Emirati oil exports are loaded in the Gulf and must pass through Hormuz. Once it's running at full volume, the pipeline will let the UAE get two-thirds of its peak oil production to market even if the strait is shut. That's about 10 percent of the total 17 million barrels of oil a day that currently goes through Hormuz.

The director general of Fujairah municipality, Mohammed Saif al-Afkham, told The Associated Press he expects the pipeline to be commissioned this month.

"This will add a lot to the shipment of oil, and it will make it faster and easier instead of going to the Gulf," he said.

Officials have not announced a firm starting date. But al-Afkham's comments and those of other Emirati officials suggest exports could begin soon.

Energy Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli told a Paris conference last month the four-foot-wide pipeline is finished and is being tested.

It is designed to handle 1.5 million barrels of crude a day. Al-Hamli has said that figure could rise to 1.8 million barrels.

Al-Hamli and the state-run International Petroleum Investment Co., which is building the pipeline, did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment about the project. Neither did the China National Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of which was contracted to construct the pipeline.

The project is immensely important for the UAE, an important American ally. The seven state federation is OPEC's third largest exporter of oil, after neighboring Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"If there are effective bypass routes, it makes it less likely that Iran would try to block it," said Robin Mills, head of consulting at Manaar Energy Consulting & Project Management in Dubai.

The Emirates' Sunni leadership is wary of Tehran's regional influence, especially in Shiite-led countries such as Iraq and Syria and Shiite-majority Bahrain in the Gulf.

A longstanding tussle over three Gulf islands claimed by the Emirates and Iran along the shipping lanes approaching the Strait of Hormuz continues to fester. The dispute flared up again last week when the commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard traveled to the islands, almost a month after a similar visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tightening sanctions against Iran are also straining its reliance on Dubai and other long-established Emirati trading ports.

With tensions high, Emirati officials are careful not to link the pipeline directly to threats from their neighbor across the Gulf.

Yet there is little doubt the pipeline is an insurance policy against any threat to the strait.

"It gives a sense of security just in case there are any issues," UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri said this week when asked about the economic benefits of the project. Only later did he add that the pipeline would also offer additional export capacity if oil production increases.

For Fujairah, the pipeline is a way to solidify its standing as an emerging petroleum hub.

About two dozen ships on average already pick up fuel for their own engines in Fujairah every day, according to editor Ada Taib at Bunkerworld, an online site that tracks the industry. Port authority estimates show it is now the world's second busiest maritime refueling spot globally after Singapore, she said.

The waterfront around Fujairah port is dotted with more than 100 towering fuel silos. Eight larger storage tanks, each capable of holding 1 million barrels of crude, mark the terminus for the new oil pipeline.

Even more energy infrastructure is on the horizon.

IPIC, the Abu Dhabi company building the crude pipeline, is planning a $3 billion, 200,000 barrel-a-day refinery at Fujairah. It and another government-backed firm, Mubadala Development Co., in March announced they will develop a terminal at Fujairah to receive liquefied natural gas for domestic use.

"There's a recognition that it's a strategic asset having an outlet on the Indian Ocean," said Mills, who added that the UAE is eager to get the crude oil pipeline running as soon as it can. "Tensions do come and go pretty quickly. You always want to have it ready."

Iranian president’s visit to disputed island a ploy to divert attention: ex Kuwaiti minster

ormer Kuwaiti Information Minister Saad bin Tafla criticized the visit made by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Abu Musa, one of three disputed islands in the Gulf.

Both Iran and the UAE claim territorial sovereignty over Abu Musa and two other islands in the southern Gulf.

Iran, then under the rule of the Western-backed shah, gained control in 1971 of the islands of Abu Musa, Lesser Tunb and Greater Tunb, as Britain granted independence to its Gulf protectorates and withdrew its forces.

Abu Musa, the only inhabited island of the three, was placed under joint administration in a deal with Sharjah, now part of the UAE.

Bin Tafla attributed Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Islamic republic’s keenness to divert attention from the Syrian crisis.

“The possible fall of the Syrian regime is a grave threat to Iran and that is why it supports the Syrian regime,” he told Al Arabiya.

Bin Tafla added that Iran is behind all the decisions made in Damascus against the rebels.

“Visiting the island is one of Iran’s tactics to divert the international community’s attention from what is happening inside Syria.”

The visit, Bin Tafla pointed out, was also meant to cover up for internal problems the Iranian regime is facing.

“The Iranian government is suffering because of its nuclear program and which is causing great tension with the international community.”

Bin Tafla lamented the Islamic republic for what he said was its insistence on creating cause for tension with its neighbors instead attempting to forge strong ties despite the fact that Gulf nations have always been benevolent towards Iran.

“Despite its occupation of the UAE islands for 40 years, Gulf nations have always helped Iran on several fronts. The problem is with the Iranian regime and not the Iranian people.”

Bin Tafla, however, noted that the problem with Iran did not start with the Islamic government that came to power in 1979.

“The problem has its roots in the time of the Shah and continued with the post-revolution government even though it calls itself Islamic.”

Gulf nations, he added, will ensure the standoff over the tiny islands is resolved peacefully.

“This can be done through bilateral talks between the UAE and Iran, negotiations between Iran and the GCC, the International Court of Justice, or the Organization of the Islamic Conference.”

The problem, bin Tafla explained, is that Iran keeps thwarting any such peaceful initiatives and blaming other parties for their failure.

“This attitude was clear in the negotiations of the 5+1 group in the Turkish capital Ankara and which ended in failure. At that time, Iran blamed Turkey and relations between them started souring. Now, Iran wants to hold the next round of talks about its nuclear program in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.”

UAE, Iraq call for end to Strait of Hormuz tension

The Iranian threat to close down the strategic Strait of Hormuz was criticized by the United Arab Emirates and Iraq on Monday, who said the move would result in economic shortcomings.

“Iraq is against escalation and against dealing with these differences using military force but with dialogue,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters at a joint news conference with his Emirati counterpart in Abu Dhabi, AFP news agency reported.

“There is a major confidence crisis with Iran and we also see ourselves as a country that overlooks the Gulf and is definitely affected by tension and escalation,” Zebari said, adding 90 percent of Iraqi oil exports pass through Hormuz.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key to global oil exports from Arabian Gulf states, in response to Western sanctions recently imposed on Iran.

Western powers believe Iran’s nuclear program masks a weapons drive supported by a new nuclear site which has recently started operations, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tehran, however, insists that the nuclear activity is for peaceful purposes, including civilian energy and medical purposes.

Both Israel and the United States are seeking tough new international sanctions on Tehran, particularly on its oil exports and financial institutions.

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan echoed Zebari’s remarks.

“Any talk on waterways and especially Hormuz has an effect on us,” Sheikh Abdullah said. “We will do everything possible to defuse the crisis.”

“I don’t think the escalation will serve the region or the markets’ stability,” he added.

European Union foreign ministers next week are expected to impose additional sanctions on Iran targeting its oil exports and possibly also its central bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said on Monday that the sanctions already imposed on Iran by the United States and the European Union were not enough to force Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

“As long as there won’t be real and effective sanctions against Iran’s petroleum industry and central bank, there will be no real effect on Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu told MPs at a parliamentary committee, with his remarks transmitted by a spokesman, AFP news agency reported.

“The current sanctions employed against Iran harm the Iranians, but not in a way that could bring to a halt in the country’s nuclear program,” he said.

“Without significant sanctions on the central bank and petroleum exports, Iran will continue to advance its nuclear plans.”

Al-Qaeda releases video supporting Arab Spring

Al-Qaeda has released a message in which Osama bin Laden's successor as the group's leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, said al Qaeda supported the Arab Spring.

The hour-long video was released to mark the 10th anniversary of al-Qaeda's 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States.

The SITE Monitoring Service, which tracks jihadist statements, quoted al-Zawahiri as saying he hoped the protest movements that have overthrown leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya would establish what he called true Islam.

The video was posted on jihadist websites on Monday and titled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory", SITE said.

Al Qaeda, which called for the violent overthrow of secular Arab governments, lost a great deal of relevance as a result of the political upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa.

The video also included a message that al Qaeda said was recorded by Osama bin Laden before his killing in May by US special forces, in which he warns Americans against "falling as slaves" to the control of major corporations.

Ahead of events on Sunday in the United States to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 11 September attacks, officials had warned of a specific, credible but unconfirmed report of a threat to harm Americans, notably in New York and Washington.