Country Report on Terrorism 2015 - Chapter 2 - United Arab Emirates

Overview: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government continued to reinforce its firm counterterrorism stance through implementation of strict counterterrorism laws and a strong counterterrorism partnership with the United States. The UAE government strengthened its commitment to support the efforts of the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), most notably through its growing counter-messaging role. The UAE government co-chaired the Coalition Communications Working Group along with the United States and the UK, and partnered with the U.S. government to establish the Sawab Center, an online counter-ISIL messaging hub. The UAE was also an active participant in the Conference of the Chiefs of Staff of Members of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and Terrorism held in Qatar in June, and in the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Counterterrorism and Border Security Working Group which met in Riyadh in August as a follow-up to the U.S.-GCC Summit at Camp David held in May.

The UAE government security apparatus remained highly capable of monitoring and preventing terrorist activity within the UAE’s borders. Throughout 2015, the UAE worked to improve border security and measures to counter the financing of terrorism. The pre-clearance facility for travelers boarding direct flights to the United States at the Abu Dhabi International Airport continued to operate and expand its services. A number of UAE-based think tanks and research institutions, including the Emirates Policy Center, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Hedayah, and the TRENDS Institute, held conferences, seminars, and roundtables on confronting terrorism and violent extremism.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: The UAE continued to implement the revised counterterrorism law (Federal law No.7) it passed in November 2014, as well as the existing cybercrime law, to prosecute terrorism-related crimes involving use of the internet to promote radical ideologies and finance terrorist activities. In July, the UAE adopted an anti-discrimination law that included provisions that complement and supplement the existing counterterrorism law. In addition to criminalizing all forms of discrimination based on religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, color, or ethnic origin, the anti-discrimination law bans hate speech propagated through media outlets, and bans acts that promote religious hate and intolerance. The law also criminalizes the practice of referring to other religious groups or individuals as infidels or unbelievers (“kafir” in Arabic), though aspects of the law are overly broad and can be interpreted to criminalize atheism, peaceful critiques of Islam, and other forms of protected religious speech and expression. Penalties for violating the law include jail terms ranging from six months to more than 10 years, as well as fines from US $13,000 to US $540,000.

The State Security Directorate in Abu Dhabi and Dubai State Security were the principal security services responsible for counterterrorism functions. These services demonstrated advanced capability in investigations, crisis response, and border security, and were trained and equipped to detect, deter, and respond to terrorist incidents. The Federal Supreme Court, through its State Security Court, had sole jurisdiction for adjudicating national security and terrorism-related cases.

In June, the State Security Court convicted Ala’a Badr Abdullah al Hashimi of murdering an American kindergarten teacher in the Al Reem shopping center in Abu Dhabi in December 2014. Al Hashimi subsequently attempted to detonate a bomb outside the home of an American doctor. The Court sentenced al Hashimi to death, the first instance of capital punishment in accordance with the 2014 counterterrorism law. Al Hashimi was executed by firing squad on July 13.

According to official press reports, the State Security Court heard more than two dozen other alleged terrorism-related cases in 2015. In the Al Manara case, 41 individuals – 38 of whom are Emiratis – were charged with establishing a terrorist organization and embracing extremist ideology with the intent of carrying out terrorist activities in the UAE. As of late December, the case was still being heard by the court. A number of other Emiratis and non-citizen residents were charged with allegedly joining ISIL and al-Qa’ida-affiliated groups, including al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Nusrah Front, and using the internet to promote extremist ideology; in some of these cases individuals received prison sentences of up to 10 years. Several of these cases have been adjourned and are awaiting final verdicts.

The UAE also deported a number of noncitizens who allegedly planned to join ISIL, including four Sudanese medical students traveling to Syria via the UAE who were intercepted at Dubai International Airport. The counterterrorism law provided broad authority for prosecution of crimes that potentially jeopardized UAE security, including defamation or insulting the UAE’s rulers or system of governance; this legislation has been used to restrict nonviolent speech and criticism of the government. In November, for example, the State Security Court convicted Kuwaiti citizen and former Member of Parliament, Mubarak al Duwailah, of insulting Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nayhan by criticizing the Crown Prince’s stance on the Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE designated as a terrorist organization. Al Duwailah was tried and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in absentia. Also in November, Emirati citizen Abdulla Saeed Al Dhanhani received a five-year prison term and a fine of US $270,000 after being convicted of insulting the UAE’s leaders on social media, and for voicing support on Twitter and Instagram for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The State Security Court also heard cases involving individuals with alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Several of these involved allegations that individuals were “spreading rumors” that defamed the UAE and posed a threat to the security of the nation. In one such case, the court sentenced an Emirati to seven years in jail for joining al-Islah, a UAE-based organization affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. It was not clear if his charges were based on incitement to violence or nonviolent speech and political affiliation.

The UAE government continued to support DHS preclearance operations and expansion with increased flights and passengers from Abu Dhabi International Airport to the United States. Abu Dhabi Police’s Criminal Investigations Divisions enhanced its information sharing with DHS in an effort to combat transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups. DHS Homeland Security Investigations provided ongoing mentoring and capacity-building training related to fraudulent documents and impostor detection to Abu Dhabi Police, Immigration, and Customs personnel, and airline personnel. The UAE employed a retina-screening system that fed traveler information into a central mainframe computer at the Ministry of Interior. The mainframe consolidated data pertaining to entry/exit, immigration, deportation, criminal activity, and corrections, and was accessible at all air, land, and sea ports. The UAE also collected Advanced Passenger Information at ports of entry (POEs). UAE POEs utilized an internal name-based watchlist system which was populated by local immigration, deportation, corrections, and security agencies to identify individuals who were prohibited from entering the country or were sought by UAE authorities. INTERPOL and GCC watchlists were presumably incorporated into the UAE’s internal watchlist.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: The UAE is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body, and chaired the Task Force’s Training and Typologies Working Group. The UAE’s financial intelligence unit, the Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit (AML/SCU), is a member of the Egmont Group. The UAE also participated in the Counter-ISIL Finance Group chaired by Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

The UAE is a regional and global financial and transportation hub, and terrorist organizations exploited the UAE to send and receive financial support. Operational capability constraints and political considerations sometimes prevented the UAE government from immediately freezing and confiscating terrorist assets absent multilateral assistance, but there were other instances of effective Emirati action to disrupt terrorist financing. Except for those specifically established for financial activities, which were well-regulated, the UAE’s numerous free trade zones varied in their compliance with and supervision of anti-money laundering/counterterrorism financing (AML/CFT) international best practices. Exploitation by illicit actors of money transmitters including licensed exchange houses, hawalas, and trading firms acting as money transmitters, remained significant concerns. The UAE required licensing and registration of exchange houses and hawalas with the Central Bank.

Both the Governor of the Central Bank and the Public Prosecutor were able to freeze funds based on suspicion of terrorism financing. The Central Bank conducted AML training both locally and regionally, including in a MENAFATF assessors’ training course in October aimed at training expert evaluators of AML/CFT regimes. Pursuant to the federal counterterrorism law, the UAE designated the AML/SCU as the sole national center concerned with receiving, analyzing, and forwarding suspicious transaction reports (STRs). STRs based on activity in financial free zones were previously reported to the AML/SCU through financial free zone regulators. The UAE also worked on enhancing the independence of the AML/SCU, publishing annual reports, and providing comprehensive statistics on the activities carried out by the unit.

For additional information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INSCR), Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Countering Violent Extremism: The UAE government continued to support Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), which it hosts in Abu Dhabi. In June, Hedayah conducted a workshop bringing together CVE practitioners and former foreign terrorist fighters to discuss the foreign terrorist fighter threat and counter-messaging approaches to address it. Hedayah participated in the Madrid+10: Stop Violent Extremism conference in Spain in October, where it also organized a two-day workshop on the Role of Women in Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism. Hedayah hosted a follow-up International CVE Research Conference in December in coordination with Edith Cowan University and New York University Abu Dhabi Institute. In addition to supporting Hedayah, the UAE government in July partnered with the U.S. government to launch the Sawab Center in Abu Dhabi, a new social media platform focused on countering ISIL’s radical narratives and online propaganda. The UAE was also host to the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.

To prevent violent extremist preaching in UAE mosques, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments provided guidelines for all Friday sermons and monitored mosques’ compliance, excluding those in Dubai, which has its own system under the supervision of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department. Abroad, the General Authority continued providing training to cohorts of Afghan imams on preaching messages of non-violence and tolerance. During key periods of Muslim religious observance, especially the fasting month of Ramadan, the UAE government aired commercials on television warning Muslim citizens and residents to refrain from donating money at mosques, as the funds could unknowingly support terrorist causes. The UAE also worked to keep its education system free of violent extremist influences, emphasizing social tolerance. In November, the UAE government announced its plan to open in Al Ain a branch of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, a premier institution of Islamic learning, as a way to promote the teaching of moderate Islam in the Gulf region.

The Government of the UAE also received training on social media analysis to enhance its ability to combat ISIL’s use of the internet to spread propaganda and increase recruitment.

International and Regional Cooperation: The UAE was a vocal and active participant in counterterrorism efforts at both the regional and international levels, including the Global Counterterrorism Forum, where it served as co-chair of the Countering Violent Extremism working group. It sent high-level delegations to a number of counterterrorism-related conferences, including the International Conference on Counter Extremism and Violence, the Conference of the Chiefs of Staff of Members of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and Terrorism, the 17^th meeting of the Arab League’s Counter-Terrorism Team of Experts, and a special session of the Arab Judicial Cooperation Network on Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime. It co-chaired with Germany the Working Group on Stabilization of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. It also co-chaired with the United States and UK the Working Group on Strategic Communications of the Global Coalition against ISIL. The UAE participated in the August U.S.-GCC Counterterrorism and Border Security Working group meeting in Riyadh.

In December the UAE government helped launch the International Supreme Council for Ifta, a group that seeks to review, correct, and amalgamate Islamic edicts, particularly those espoused by ISIL and other terrorist groups. The council includes 35 Islamic scholars/muftis from 35 Muslim countries. The UAE government routinely invited participation from GCC countries at counterterrorism-related training sessions conducted by U.S. law enforcement agencies in the UAE.