Visitors to extremist websites face prosecution (UAE)

[JCMach1]

Visitors to websites that promote terrorism – many of which are accessible in the country – can now be charged with supporting terrorism, but a strong evidence of criminal intent is required for conviction, according to top state security judges.

Chief Justice Shehab al Hammadi, who presides over all state security cases at the Federal Supreme Court, said the Ministry of Justice had, in convicting six people of operating a terror organisation in the UAE in April, ruled that simply viewing such sites could be considered a crime.

He said that even if a website is not blocked, convictions can still be obtained if prosecutors can show a defendant had “criminal intentions” in visiting them. Examples, he added, included downloading extremist content from the websites or forwarding links on to friends...

Two other defendants, Rashid Dawood, 34, and Abdullah Hassan, 27, were found guilty of “promoting jihadi groups” as well as distributing military training videos. They were sentenced to one year in jail for their membership in the jihadist organisation they set up. All of the six convicted were sentenced to three years in prison for financially supporting a terrorist organisation. The verdicts cannot be appealed.

Dr Ali Ahmed al Mannaei, the attorney who represented the Emirati defendants in the trial, argued at the time his defendants should not be accused of a crime for visiting those websites because they were not blocked... http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100622/NATIONAL/100629932/1138