Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court on Wednesday sentenced three Arabs to 15 years in jail and fined each of them Dh500,000 on terrorism charges.

The three convicts, two Egyptians and a Saudi citizen, were found guilty of promoting the ideology of terrorist organisations and breaking the UAE Cybercrime Law No. 5 of 2012.

The men will also be deported after serving their jail terms. The court also ordered the confiscation of their laptops and cell phones and shutting down of their social media accounts.

The men were also found guilty of harming the UAE’s relations with a neighbouring country.

The court also heard a number of terror-related cases. In one such case, the prosecutors charged 12 men with espionage.

A prosecution witness told the court an Arab intelligence officer recruited a number of bankers and employees in a government department to obtain sensitive information about leading officials and businessmen.

The witness said in his testimony that each spy was paid Dh100,000 and a Mercedes car for passing on the details of bank accounts and properties of the high-ranking officials.

The court adjourned the case to May 9 to hear more witnesses.

In a separate case, the court heard the lawyers of nine Arabs, charged with promoting the ideology of terrorist organisations, including Daesh, and insulting UAE leaders on a social media account.

Their lawyers, Hassan Al Reyami and Mohammad Al Azazi, demanded that the defendants be cleared for a lack of evidence and wrong investigation procedures.

The court fixed May 9 for pronouncing the verdict.

In another case, a citizen of a Gulf country charged with joining Al Nusra Front terrorist organisation and training alongside their elements in Syria had his hearing adjourned to May 9.

The defendant told the court that he had turned himself in to the authorities and informed them of his wrongdoings. He demanded that he be cleared of all charges.

Another citizen of a Gulf country, charged with insulting the UAE’s leaders and harming relations with a sisterly country, had his hearing adjourned to May 9.

Although the defendant told the court that he would represent himself and required no lawyer, the court adjourned the hearing to May 9 to assign a lawyer to him.</s>By AFP - Apr 10,2018 - Last updated at Apr 10,2018

Cars are seen an ADNOC petrol station in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on July 10, 2017 (Reuters file photo)

ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi's state energy company on Tuesday said it had opened its first auction for exploration contracts, offering six major oil and gas blocks as it looks to expand output.

Successful bidders will gain access to untapped reserves estimated to hold billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic metres of natural gas, Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC) said.

Home to more than 90 per cent of United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil, Abu Dhabi is auctioning off licenses in its blocks for the first time.

"The licensing strategy represents a major advance in how Abu Dhabi unlocks new opportunities and maximises value from its hydrocarbon resources," the statement said.

Those granted the licences will enter into agreements granting exploration rights and the opportunity to develop the discoveries if targets are achieved, the company said.

Bids will be accepted for the six blocks — four onshore and two offshore — until October.

The UAE, OPEC's fourth largest crude producer and the eighth largest globally, pumps around 2.8 million barrels per day and sits on just under 100 billion barrels of reserves — almost as much as neighbouring Kuwait.

In the past few weeks, ADNOC has awarded several international oil companies long-term concession rights in offshore and onshore fields to boost output.

Abu Dhabi has begun to award new oil concessions as old ones expire.

It has already granted concessions to Exxon Mobil, Total, BP, Shell and China's CNPC, among others.

ADNOC aims to increase Abu Dhabi's oil production capacity from 3.2 million barrels per day to 3.5 million by the end of 2018.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court jails two Egyptians and a Saudi for fifteen years each and fines them for promoting terrorist ideologies online. The court orders them deported after release, their computer equipment seized, and their social media presences deleted.