Abu Dhabi: The Federal Supreme Court on Monday referred five security-related cases to the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals.
The decision follows a change introduced to a law to give a fair trial affording all essential judicial guarantees to defendants currently facing final verdicts by the Federal Supreme Court without a right to appeal.
Under the new law, the Federal Supreme Court’s powers to decide on crimes relating to the UAE’s internal and external security, forgery of official records and counterfeiting of currency are mandated to a Federal Court of Appeals.
The law was issued by the President of UAE His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in September and came into effect this month, two months after it was published in the official gazette.
Rulings issued by the Federal Appeals Court can now be appealed before the Federal Supreme Court.
The referred cases include one involving a Gulf national charged with promoting the terrorist ideology of the Daesh organisation, posting tweets that harm interest of the country and distort the image of another country. An Arab man, identified as M.F.S., charged with insulting leaders of the country had his case referred to the Court of Appeals.
Another man from a Gulf country, S.A.A., charged with joining a terrorist group in Syria, also had his case referred to the same court.
The Federal Supreme Court, the highest federal judicial authority, will continue to look into various disputes among members of the UAE Union, or between one or more emirates and the federal government, the constitutionality of federal and other laws and legislations, conflicts of jurisdiction between the federal and local judicial authorities in the country, conflict of jurisdiction between the judicial authority in one emirate and another, and interpreting the provisions of the constitution.
Changes in the judicial law is meant to secure and promote fair trial for defendants who are currently facing final verdicts without the right to appeal them.
The Federal Supreme Court will now decide on any verdicts issued by the Federal Court of Appeals on crimes relating to the UAE’s internal and external security, forgery of official records and counterfeiting of currency. It can uphold these verdicts or turn them down and issues new rulings.
