Rights groups say UAE releases 3 after denouncing Islamists

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Human rights groups say the United Arab Emirates has released three people with alleged ties to a local Islamist group after denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

Osama al-Najjar, Badr al-Bahri and Othman al-Shehhi were released after appearing in a nearly two-minute video shared on social media sites by the state-aligned UAE Forsan in which they denounced the Brotherhood and its ideas.

The Gulf Center for Human Rights and the International Center for Justice and Human Rights, which focuses on freedoms in Gulf countries, reported the three were released Thursday after making the public confessions.

The three had been detained on national security charges for their ties to al-Islah, an Islamist group that is outlawed in the UAE.

The UAE has not officially commented on their release.