An Emirati man has been extradited from Jordan to the UAE, state media said on Wednesday, 10 years after he was sentenced in absentia for alleged affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Khalaf Al Rumaithi, a joint Emirati-Turkish citizen according to rights groups, was described as a “terrorist” by the United Arab Emirates’ official WAM news agency, which said he was facing a retrial.
In 2013, Rumaithi was sentenced to 15 years’ jail by the UAE’s Federal Supreme Court for “establishing a secret organisation affiliated with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood”, WAM said.
His case has drawn concern from rights groups, with Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights saying he is among 94 critics of the UAE government who faced an “unfair” mass trial that led to the conviction of 69 people.
Rumaithi’s “co-defendants have been unjustly languishing in Emirati prisons for over a decade”, said Joey Shea, UAE researcher at HRW.
Rumaithi, 58, has been living in exile in Turkey since his conviction, the rights group said.
Jordanian authorities temporarily detained him at Amman’s airport upon his arrival from Turkey on May 7 before releasing him on bail, HRW said. They detained him again on May 8 before he was extradited to the UAE.
The UAE “will not hesitate to go after those wanted for justice and prosecute them in fair judicial process”, WAM said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which sprang up in the last century as the main opposition group in Egypt and other countries in the region, is viewed as a terrorist group by the UAE and most Gulf Arab states.
