UAE to try 41 on charges of seeking 'caliphate'

The United Arab Emirates is to try 41 people on charges of seeking to overthrow the government to set up an Islamic State group-style caliphate, prosecutors said on Sunday.

Such mass trials on terrorism charges are rare in the UAE which has largely been spared the Islamic militancy that has hit other Arab states.

The suspects, who include Emiratis as well as foreigners, are accused of setting up a group "with a terrorist, takfiri (Sunni Muslim extremist) ideology," in a bid to "seize power and establish a caliphate," the prosecutor general said in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.