Requests for bail, family prison visits and legal interviews with detainees were submitted to the national security court on Monday by the lawyer for

64 of the 94 people arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the UAE government.

Abdul Hamid Al Kumaiti told 7DAYS the men arrested were being held in solitary confinement. Last week the UAE Attorney General, Salem Saeed Kubaish, revealed that the 94 Emiratis had been detained.

He said the suspects are accused of forming a secret organisation and taking on a foreign cover under the pretence of calling on UAE society to observe the teaching and virtues of Islam.

Kubaish added that the suspects “communicated with the international Muslim Brotherhood organisation and other organisations based outside the state, and asked them for help, expertise and financial support to serve their undeclared goal of seizing power”.

The suspects will be tried at the Federal Supreme Court once the investigation is finished.

The son of one of the detained men said yesterday that his dad was returning to his job as head of an educational institute in Qatar when he was stopped at the airport and told he could not leave the country. “He stayed with us for a month in Abu Dhabi and was then arrested. We are so surprised because he had never caused any trouble,” he said.

He added that his dad has regularly phoned the family from jail. “The prison conditions are OK but they are all separated. The conditions in the cell are fine, he can knock on the door any time to go to the bathroom and he has no complaints,” the son said.

The suspects are accused of violating article 180 of the UAE Penal Code, which bans any organisation aimed at “overthrowing, seizing or opposing the basic principles of the country”.

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