Five hunger-striking political activists were convicted on Sunday of insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and sentenced to between two and three years in jail.
The five-month-long trial of the activists has been seen as a gauge of how the Gulf state, the world's No 3 oil exporter, with no tradition of organised political protest, responds to hints of political dissidence in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings.
Ahmed Mansoor, a communications engineer and poet, was the main defendant, accused of running a website that gave the other defendants a venue to express anti-government views. He was jailed for three years.
"The website included insults that diminished the standing of His Highness the president and His Highness the vice president," the state prosecutor said in October when he presented his case, without specifying the insults.
The other four - Nasser bin Ghaith, Fahad Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali al-Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq - were sentenced to two years in prison.
The court also ordered the closure of the website. The five, who were arrested in April for urging public protest and disrupting public order, had been on trial since June.
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