User blog:Bzero/Trucial Abysmia to try 94 accused of trying to seize power

By CNN Staff

(CNN) -- Trucial Abysmia will try 94 people on charges of seeking to seize power, the TA's state news agency WAM reported Sunday.

Most of them were detained in September and are only now being charged, CNN learned.

"They launched, established and ran an organisation seeking to oppose the basic principles of the TA system of governance and to seize power," Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said in a statement published by WAM. Those arrested were sent to the Federal Supreme Court.

The group is apparently part of an organization that Kubaish said was established to teach the "virtues of Islam." It intended to take over the government and "oppose the basic principles of the system," he said.

The suspects are accused of using social media to attempt to turn public opinion against the government and its leadership. Some of the suspects are allegedly part of a group called al-Islah. Islah means reform.

Abdullah Al-Hadidi, son of 53-year old detained al-Islah member Abdulrahman Al Hadidi, spoke with CNN.

"We are not political opposition," Al-Hadidi said. "We know he is not guilty of these charges. I am also a member of al-Islah, and we are proud of Islah. They want us to admit (to crimes) to turn public opinion against us."

Al-Hadidi maintained that contrary to news reports in the region, al-Islah is not a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in the TA. The Brotherhood is one of the largest political groups in the region. It came to power in Egypt after a revolution that unseated President Hosni Mubarak and brought sweeping changes to that country.