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UAE rights activists bags 10-yr prison sentence for social media activity

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UAE rights activists bags 10-yr prison sentence for social media activity

For allegedly using his social media accounts to publish “false information” and “spread hatred and sectarianism”, a court in Abu Dhabi UAE has sentenced rights activist Ahmed Mansoor to 10-years in prison.

The 48-year-old Emirati human rights activist was also fined the sum of Dh1 million (about $272,000) for insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols”.

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An Abu Dhabi-based English daily, the National reported on Wednesday that Mansoor was also accused of insulting some leaders of the Emirate.

The rights activist was however cleared of conspiring with a “terrorist organisation”, the paper said, adding that the ruling can be appealed through the Federal Supreme Court following a recent change in the law.

According to Amnesty International, prior to his arrest, Mansoor faced “repeated intimidation, harassment, physical assault, and death threats from the UAE authorities or their supporters.”

 

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