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Setting the Record Straight On Al-Islah in the UAE

Ali Rashid Al-Noami, an Emirati academic and former member of Al-Islah, discusses Al-Islah's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and seeks to set the record straight on the UAE's recent crackdown on its members.

A United Arab Emirates flag waves in front of a big poster of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi December 15,2009. Abu Dhabi threw its flashy but debt-laden neighbour Dubai a $10 billion lifeline to head off a bond default, cheering Gulf and global markets on Monday but raising questions about the undisclosed terms.REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Tags: TRAVEL SOCIETY BUSINESS CITYSCAPE)
A United Arab Emirates flag waves in front of a big poster of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi Dec. 15, 2009. — REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

International media coverage of the recent detention of around 60 members of Al Islah Reform and Social Association, an Islamist group in the United Arab Emirates, as well as various actions taken by the UAE government over the last 18 months against a tiny minority of critics linked with international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, have tended to present the issue as one of an increasingly oppressive government cracking down on proponents of liberal reforms and supporters of human rights.

It is time to set the record straight.

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