UAE sentences prominent activist to 10-year jail

DUBAI: An Emirati court has sentenced an award-winning human rights activist to 10 years in prison for insulting the state, pro-government media and rights groups reported Thursday.

Amnesty International said Ahmed Mansoor was fined one million dirhams ($272,245) in addition to the decade-long jail term over his Facebook and Twitter posts. The National and Gulf News, two UAE dailies close to the government, said the Abu Dhabi court had also ordered Mansoor be placed under surveillance for three years after his release.

The 48-year-old was convicted of attempting to harm his country´s relations with its neighbours by spreading misinformation on social media, according to The National. Mansoor was cleared of conspiring with a "terrorist organisation".

Foreign journalists are not allowed to attend such trials in the United Arab Emirates, whose ruling families rarely tolerate opposition. Amnesty slammed the verdict as "a devastating blow to freedom of expression" and said Mansoor was a prisoner of conscience convicted for sharing his thoughts.

"Ahmed Mansoor is one of the few openly critical voices in the UAE, and his persecution is another nail in the coffin for human rights activism in the country," said Lynn Maalouf, the organisation´s Middle East research director.

"He should never have been charged in the first place and now he must be released immediately." Mansoor´s arrest in March 2017 under the Gulf state´s cyber crime law triggered an international outcry led by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty.