47. According to members of Al-Islah, this petition was a response to years of state security infiltration of civil society organisations in the country and targeted harassment of members of Al-Islah. The harassment included demotions at work, sackings, withdrawal of scholarships for students, withholding trade licenses, preventing members leaving the country, and finally closing down the association. 48. In 2011, the security forces arrested five activists, who became known as the “UAE 5”, some of whom had signed the petition, and charged them with insulting the rulers of the UAE. They were found guilty and sentenced to three years imprisonment. They were subsequently pardoned in November 2011. 49. On 4 December 2011, seven members of Al-Islah had their citizenship, passports, and identification papers removed from them. On 9 April, they were charged with being illegal aliens, arrested and held at Al-Shahama Prison in Abu Dhabi. They were then moved to an undisclosed location in August 2012 and held in isolation for many months. 50. In the aftermath, security forces further arrested any activists demanding the release of the "UAE 7". By July 2012, Emirati Security Forces had detained over 64 activists, judges, lawyers, academics, and leading thinkers who had demanded the release of the detainees or who had called for freedom of expression. Among their number were highly respected legal figures; even in the recent trial hearings, the presiding Judge referred to one of the defendants, Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, in respectful terms as “the balance of justice”. In the next wave of arrests, 11 people of Egyptian nationality were detained and accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In January 2013, 13 female relatives of the detained were arrested, bringing the total number of accused to 94. The women were later released on bail. 51. The family members of the detainees speak of continued harassment. Many of them now have no access to funds as their bank accounts have been frozen. Their children have suffered discrimination at school. The sons of detainees were arrested and held for eight hours on 4 March for carrying photographs of their fathers in the vicinity of the court. They tried to arrest the daughter of Dr Mohammed Al-Mansoori and then she went into hiding. Abdulla Al-hadidi was arrested at 3am in the early hours of 22 March 2013. 11