Lawyer of the Seven Detainees: Stripping of Nationalities Unconstitutional

A lawyer for the six Islamist activists, the UAE authorities stripped their citizenships last year for demanding political reform, said that the Emirates arrested on Monday.

The United Arab Emirates, a major oil exporter, avoided popular uprisings that toppled the heads of four Arab countries since last year, partly due to its system of social welfare, thuogh did not appear little tolerance to opposition at home.

Prison sentences issued against activists demanding the expansion of powers of an elected council. Meanwhile, The UAE canceled in December the nationality of six citizens describing them a threat to UAE national security.

The daughter of one of the six men among those arrested, Mohammed Abdul Razzaq al-Siddiq, said authorities jailed her father on Monday after refusing to sign a request for a new nationality within two weeks.

Alaa al-Siddiq told Reuters: "My father called us and said he refused to sign the request... so he was arrested along with the five others."

Mohammed Al-Rakeen, a lawyer for the six arrested people, confirmed that they were taken to jail. Al-Rakeen described the stripping of UAE nationality as "unconstitutional."

He added that the Emirati Ahmed Al Suwaidi, a seventh activist stripped of his citizenship last year, was detained weeks ago.

Emirates official said he is checking the report.

The case represented a precedent in the United Arab Emirates, where questions about human rights and political reform were raised statewide.

Al-Siddiq told Reuters last week that he believed he was stripped of his citizenship due to his signature on a petition sent to the leaders of the United Arab Emirates require granting the Federal National Council, a consultative body, more effective powers.

He also said he believed the men were targeted because of their political Islamist affilations. The six men, who were stripped of their nationalities last December, are members of the Association of reform.

The UAE authorities fears that the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt after the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak may increase the audacity of Islamist groups there.