Trial continues in 'Hezbollah case'

The State Security Court in its hearing on Monday looked into a number of cases and deferred them to later dates next month. The hearing was presided over by Judge Falah Al Hajri.
The court heard the testimonies of two prosecution witnesses in a case best known as the 'Cluster Hezbollah Cell'.
The two witnesses revealed details about the methods adopted by the cell to recruit members to join it. To mesmerise and recruit new members, the cell depended on women, whose role was to seduce men to spend a night with them.
The court sentenced 27-year-old Hossam Ibrahim Ahmed, a Sudanese national, to three years in jail and fined him Dh250,000 and ordered the confiscation of electronic devices and tools in his custody. He was convicted of hacking the online portal of a government company operating in the oil and energy sector. The investigating police officers of the case are the two prosecution witnesses. The first witness told court that the Hezbollah Cell was formed in the UAE by Iranian intelligence agents, who are members of the so-called the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. They have been working in conjunction with some elements of the Hezbollah group since 2004. This cell was working as a sleeper cell until it was exposed in 2013.
The cell managed to recruit members including the prime accused - identified as H.A.S.H - who was working for a sensitive government body. He had supplied the Lebanese Hezbollah agents with classified and top secret information.
The witness said: "The prime accused passed on confidential information related to government, security and military establishments as well as pivotal economical entities on to the intelligence body of the Lebanese Hezbollah group. He also passed on information about the arms deals that the UAE had concluded with different countries. He supplied the group with information about political, financial and security figures, which caused great damage to the country."
Plans to target sensitive sites
"Our undercover agents inside and outside the country helped us uncover the Cluster Hezbollah Cell, and these sources told us that the Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence had been gathering such information with the intent of planning to target and hit sensitive sites in the UAE," the first witness concluded.
The second witness, also an investigation police officer, said in court that there were seven members in the cell, including a woman identified as F.A.H.A, two Emirati nationals; and four Lebanese, one of whom holds a Canadian citizenship. The cell, he said, recruited two Emirati nationals, working for sensitive government bodies, by arranging dates with women with whom they held illicit relationships and were video recorded in indecent positions.
The cell then turned in these videos to elements of Hezbollah in Lebanon, who made a montage of the videos and sent them back to the UAE. They threatened the two Emirati nationals to join the cell or be exposed.
The second witness said the woman involved in the cell is a Canadian of Egyptian descent. The woman, he said, was working for a petroleum company based in Abu Dhabi. She supplied Hezbollah with geological maps of the oil and gas fields in Abu Dhabi and the output and exportation of each field, as well as information and photos of senior Emirati figures and their family members.
Having listened to the two witnesses, the court postponed the case to May 23 based on a request by the prosecution and defence lawyer to hear the pleadings of both in the next sitting.
Cooperating with terrorist organisation
In another case, the state security prosecution brought charges against another cell in which six persons; two Jordanians, a Syrian, an American, a Belgian and a Palestinian, are involved.
The prosecution accuses the cell members of having cooperated with a terrorist organisation - the Syria-based Al Nusra Front - by supplying the group with sensitive electronic devices and video cameras. Additionally, they stand accused of creating a Twitter account with the aim of disseminating information that could glorify and promote Al Nusra Front, promote its ideology and offend the UAE and its leaders. One member of the group is also accused of possessing a weapon without a licence.
The accused have denied the charges leveled against them. The court ordered the case be put off to be held again on May 16 to hear from the defence lawyers.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com