The State Security Circuit, which held its fifth ses-sion in the trial of 94 members of a clandestine organisation al-legedly involved in a plot to over-throw the government, heard a prosecution witness and exam-ined and listened to some re-cordings on Tuesday.

The electronic files seized from the secret group members showed them “calling for a change in government” and re-vealed their alleged plot.

In one of the recordings, an ac-cused is shown giving a speech saying that revolutions and up-risings are the only way to change the face of the nation and trans-form it into a better state. He says in the recording that “indi-vidual freedoms must be spread and that the wealth and resourc-es of the country must be distrib-uted and not stolen”.

The accused says “the nation should advance and must not be ruled and led by a group of crimi-nals, agents and liars who sell themselves for a petty price”.

The accused in the recording points out that transforming the nation requires sacrifices for the sake of dignity and free-dom. “People must offer their blood for freedom,” he says in the recording.“

We will not roll back,” the accused says and adds that Europe is an example of a free society.

“The change and action will come even if we turned to be like Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen,” referring to the uprisings in these countries.

Governments have no option but to face people’s demands, he says in the recording. He mentions Syria and says Bashar Al Assad will use his tanks and other weapons to at-tack them in their homes. He says the Muslim Brotherhood has of-fered lots of sacrifices previously and has the right to assume power.

The accused in the recording says the Muslim Brotherhood are going to rule for over 400 years since they have a clear vision.

He says demands of democracy and freedom should be raised in society, and the members of the group must be patient no matter what the outcome.

Asked by the judge if the voice heard in the recording was his, the accused said ‘Yes’.

Another recording heard by the court contained the alleged media plan envisaged by the clandestine group to instigate public opinion using social networking websites to demand more rights for UAE citi-zens.

The media scheme raises ques-tions and issues on social sites. Some of these issues are oil, the Federal National Council, the rights of Emirati citizen and jobs for nationals.

It shows the group’s plan to in-volve the local media to pose ques-tions on the freedom of the Press.

Most of the accused in the dock confessed that they were present at such a meeting, but one of them said that the govern-ment had paid somebody to at-tend and record the meeting. Some accused said they did not recall that meeting.

The attendees during another meeting held in the Eastern Region spoke about the plan for a civil state after overthrowing the govern-ment.

The prosecution witness pointed out that the secret group here in the country held meet-ings with the regional organisa-tion in Egypt particularly with the Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood leader Khayrat Al Shater and the top guide Mohammad Badee along with Anas Al Tekreiti and Yousef Al Qaradawi. They met one of the accused and asked him for support from his news organisation.

Another accused claimed that he was badly treated at the be-ginning of his detention. The judge ordered that his testimony be recorded.

The hearing lasted for six hours and all the accused ap-peared wearing the national at-tire of the UAE.

The last hearing was attended by 15 media representatives, four representatives from civil society organisations, six defence lawyers, five from the State Security Prose-cution, six prosecution witnesses as well as 124 relatives of the de-fendants.

The defendants, who are accused of belonging to an illegal, secret organisation that aims to counter the foundations of this state in order to seize power and of contacting foreign entities and groups to implement this plan, have denied the charges.

One of the three witnesses who appeared before the court earlier said the group had two faces.

“The public face was that of Al Islah, a charity organisation, but in reality it was an appendage of the Muslim Brotherhood, with a struc-ture to recruit and mobilise people to its cause.” He said the accused had “set up a state within a state and this secret body had a Shura (consultative) council comprising 30 members”.

“They have offices in each emir-ate across the country and have a board of directors too,” the wit-ness claimed. He said committee members lured people, especially from among Indians and Bangla-deshis, and attempted to indoctri-nate them.

The secret cell also had finan-cial, educational, PR and media, investment and dialogue com-mittees. Recruitment commit-tees targeted men and women, he added.

The accused, all Emiratis, had invested money collected from Brotherhood membership fees and charity funds to set up commercial enterprises and real estate invest-ments held in their names to con-ceal their activities from the state. He claimed the accused donated five-seven per cent of their month-ly salaries to the organisation, the court heard.

Members of the group, some of whom were doctors and lawyers, allegedly used their network of contacts to spread falsehood against the country in the international community.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com

EVIDENCE

The evidence included files extracted from personal computers, cell phones and other electronic devices be-longing to the accused. The files contained photos, video clips and documents