A Canadian, two Americans and a Libyan who had been held for more than 500 days without charges and allegedly tortured were charged in the United Arab Emirates on Monday with supporting terrorism.
Canadian Libyan Salim Alaradi was one of the four Libyan nationals charged with supporting two pro-Islamist Libyan militias. Alaradi was arrested in the middle of the night nearly three months earlier, pulled from a Dubai hotel where he, his wife and children were staying on a trip to see extended family.
A father and son, the Libyan American dual citizens Kamal and Mohammed al-Darat were arrested that same month. Like Alaradi, they have been charged with supporting terrorism. Canadian and US officials attended the hearing but their respective embassies did not respond to requests for comment. The four detainees, all businessmen, have denied that they ever supported thetwo militias, the Libyan Dawn and the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, which formed during the 2011 revolution. The latter sided with the post-revolution government, but both pro-Islamist groups have splintered in the wake of Libya’sincreasingly fractious civil war.
The defendants have had limited access to their lawyers, according to Alaradi’s Canadian attorney, Paul Champ. Alaradi’s brother, Mohamad, who was detained for four months, also alleges that they both suffered torture and human rights violations such as detention without charges.
Alaradi’s 17-year-old daughter, Marwa, told the Guardian that Monday’s hearing lasted about 20 minutes. She said that her father rolled up his sleeves during the hearing to show the court bruises along his arms, consistent with the beatings and electric shocks her uncle described to the Guardian in an interview last year.
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