ABU DHABI // A man collected thousands of dirhams for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Federal Supreme Court has heard.
M S is accused of being a member of a secret organisation linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which aimed to overthrow the Government.
Prosecutors claimed in court on Monday that after the trial of 94 Muslim Brotherhood members last year, M S met with the remaining members to ensure the organisation continued.
A K, a State Security officer, said he was in charge of the charity committee in the Brotherhood’s local branch.
He said the defendant had been a member of the Brotherhood since the early 1990s and had worked his way up the organisation’s hierarchy. He then joined the military and, according to the Brotherhood’s policy, was not allowed to attend the secret meetings for security reasons.
However, M S joined the charity committee of the organisation in 2007, where his role was to document its work and save the information on memory drives and laptops. These devices were confiscated as evidence in 2012, as part of the original sedition trial.
A K said the committee used to hold clandestine meetings every four months. Its main goal was to collect donations from other charities or businesses to support the Brotherhood, both at home and abroad.
Yasser Al Naqbi, one of M S’s lawyers, asked A K: “Does collecting donations mean someone is trying to overthrow the Government?”
A K said: “Not everyone who joins a charity is prosecuted. The defendant’s purpose of collecting the donations was to serve the organisation, and he did so by taking money from legitimate charity organisations.”
A K said M S last met the committee in April 2012, after the head of the committee absconded from authorities.
In 2011, members of the committee met to discuss how to distribute Dh1 million, A K said.
M S was allegedly given Dh150,000 from this sum to safeguard in case the rest of the money was confiscated by authorities.
A K said the organisation used to raise Dh5 million to Dh8 million a year to support the Brotherhood from businesses or charity organisations, which did not know where the funds were going.
The money was used to fund Brotherhood branches in other Arab countries.
The case was adjourned to January 12, when the defence will present its arguments.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
