Federal Supreme Court orders jail term against accused in espionage case, acquits another

The Circuit of State Security at the Federal Supreme Court, has sentenced a Pakistani identified as G. M. A. to three-year imprisonment over the charges of spying. He will be deported after serving the jail term. It also acquitted an Iranian identified as M. A. D. over similar charges. The two men were accused to have been spying against the country in collaboration with an intelligence officer at a foreign embassy in the UAE. The court was chaired by Judge Ranfi Mohammed Ibrahim, head of the circuit, with the two judges Mohammed Ahmed Abdul Gader and Ahmed Abdul Hamid as members and representative from the Public Prosecution Mohammed Mustafa Al Baroudi. It stated that the first accused used to work as a driver at a sensitive public institution, and had relations with an intelligence officer at a foreign embassy. The intelligence officer requested him to take photos of officials and visiting delegations. The first accused confessed to have delivered information about the visiting delegations to the intelligence officer against AED30, 000. He also said he used to visit the Embassy frequently to meet the intelligence officer. The first accused said he met the officer at Iranian hospital in Dubai and in a restaurant at Defence Street in Abu Dhabi, adding that the intelligence officer asked him to take photos of the strategic sites in the UAE. Meanwhile, the court did not find any tangible evidence against the second accused. So it exonerated him.