The Federal Supreme Court in the UAE has set February 29 as a date for announcing a verdict in the case of two detained Libyan businessmen on charges of terrorism.

The Emirati authorities charged Muad Al-Harari and Adel Nasef, with funding Libya Dawn Operation, which is branded as a terrorist organization in the UAE, the strong ally of rogue General Khalifa Haftar, the commander of Dignity Operation.

“Fajr Libya or Libyan Dawn was a code name of a military operation and not a political or military group,” lawyer of the two businessmen Ali Al-Manaie told the court.

Al-Manaie added the defendants had dealings with these groups between 2011 and 2012, a long time before the Federal Law on Combating Terrorist Offences was issued in 2014.

The lawyer said the charges against the defendants were founded on their acts outside the UAE and there is no evidence that they are wanted by the legitimate Libyan government or the UAE for any offence committed between 2011 and 2013.

The UAE authorities arrested 10 Libyan businessmen and accused them of sponsoring the General National Congress and Libya Dawn Operation back in August 2014, however, they set free four of them in December of the same year including Rifaat Hadagha, who talked about the brutal torture he received during his detention.