ABU DHABI // A man accused of travelling to Syria to join a terrorist group has dismissed his lawyer in court.
K T M, 41, an Emirati, is being tried at the Federal Supreme Court on charges that he joined Jabhat Al Nusra, an affiliate of Al Qaeda, to receive military training.
On Monday, he said that he did not want to be represented by his lawyer any more because he “had not committed any crimes”.
The court heard K T M had travelled with his family to Turkey as a tourist, before leaving them and heading to Syria. He is also accused of getting married without a legitimate contract.
In a previous hearing, the court was shown a video of a man resembling the defendant singing while dressed in the militias’ attire. The judge had the video sent to a technical lab to establish whether K T M was the man in the video.
The prosecution said K T M had refused to be tested in either the Abu Dhabi or Dubai offices. The defendant denied these charges.
“I don’t have a phone, as soon as I came to the UAE I had only Dh500 with me,” he said.
“The investigators are saying the video came from my phone, but I don’t have a phone and that is a fake phone.”
He also refused to sign the case files because “they stated I had agreed that I was part of a terrorist group”, which he said was not true.
“I went to Syria for tourism purposes and to get married, I had problems so I came back. I was surprised at the addition of the mobile phone and number,” he said.
He requested that the court acquit him. The verdict will be announced on September 28.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
