Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Where It Is Not Over
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 11:40 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran See also Tunisia Latest: Today's Election
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2020 GMT: The lawyer for five political activists accused of insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that his clients spent years serving their nation and that their alleged "crimes" are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The five men, arrested in April for urging public protests and disrupting public order, have been on trial since June, with a verdict expected on 17 November.
"The defendants are among the experts who served this country," said attorney Mohammed al-Roken. "There is no legislation that forbids peaceful gatherings. On the contrary, there's an article in the constitution that guarantees the right of citizens to hold public gatherings."
The defendants include economist Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of France's Sorbonne University. He published an article criticising attempts to avoid political reform by buying off citizens with generous government spending programmes.
Another defendant, Ahmed Mansoor, is a communications engineer and poet whose works were published by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. He is accused of running a website that provided a platform for the rest of the defendants to express anti-regime views.
1950 GMT: Braving gunfire that injured several people, protesters in Hodeidah in Yemen continue a march: