Indonesia extradites convicted UAE Islamist activist - police
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Jakarta - Indonesia has extradited an Emirati Islamist activist who was sentenced to jail in absentia two years ago for allegedly plotting a coup in the Gulf state, an Indonesian police spokesman said.
The case underscores the desire of the United Arab Emirates, an oil-producing hereditary country closely allied to the West, to quell the perceived threat from Islamists five years after they gained ground throughout the region after Arab Spring uprisings.
"Around three days ago, (Abdulrahman Khalifa bin Subaih) was sent home at the request of UAE Interpol because he did a violation in his home country," Indonesian police spokesman Agus Rianto told Reuters. "In Indonesia, he breached rules about anIndonesian ID," he added, without elaborating.
Subaih was sentenced to 15 years in jail in a mass trial.
An advocacy group which has criticised the UAE's human rights record said 50-year-old bin Subaih was "kidnapped" from a detention centre on the island of Batam on Dec 18.
Emirati diplomatic staff and Indonesian security forces then put him on a plane bound for Abu Dhabi, the Geneva-based International Centre for Justice and Human Rights said.
Bin Sobaih had carried out "social, charitable and political activities" as a senior member of the banned UAE Islamistal-Islah, an association which the government says is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Al-Islah denies any suchlink, but says it shares some of the Brotherhood's Islamist ideology.
UAE officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the extradition.
Bin Sobaih was one of 94 defendants, known as UAE 94, whowere accused of "belonging to an illegal, secret organisation... that aims to counter the foundations of this state in orderto seize power and of contacting foreign entities and groups to implement this plan".
Sixty-one of the alleged coup plotters received jail terms of up to 10 years in July 2013, in a trial that Human Rights Watch called at the time "another low point for the UAE's worsening human rights record." Eight were sentenced in absentiato 15 years in prison and 25 were acquitted.
The UAE denied allegations of torture and procedural flaws by the defendants and their lawyers, and has stood by its no-tolerance policy on political Islamist activism.//Reuters
