Five UAE Activists Pardoned

Emirati President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan pardoned five political activists Monday after they had been convicted a day earlier of charges including “insulting the country’s top leadership, endangering national security, inciting people to protest and urging a boycott of the existing, limited form of elections.” The activists, including blogger Ahmed Mansour and economics professor Nasser bin Gaith, had been in detention since April “after signing an online petition demanding political reforms, including free elections for parliament.” The trials, which took place in the UAE’s highest court normally reserved for terrorism suspects, without any avenue for appeal, drew criticism from human rights groups.