Emirati Charged for Plot on Abu Dhabi F1 Circuit

The husband of an Emirati woman executed for murdering an American teacher has been charged with joining the Islamic State group and plotting attacks on Abu Dhabi's Formula 1 circuit, local media reported Tuesday.

The man was charged by the UAE's Federal Supreme Court on Monday with seven terror-related offenses, including planning to bomb the Yas Marina circuit and a U.S. military base, The National newspaper said.

The suspect was married to Alaa Bader al-Hashemi, who was executed in July after being convicted of the jihadist-inspired murder of U.S. school teacher Ibolya Ryan, 47, in a toilet of an Abu Dhabi shopping mall in December last year.

Dubbed the "Reem Island Ghost" after the location of the mall, Hashemi was also convicted of placing a handmade pipe bomb outside an Egyptian-American doctor's home in Abu Dhabi.

The Gulf News quoted a prosecutor as saying that the man attempted to join IS in Iraq but had instead "opted to work in the UAE to support the terrorist organization".

He was also accused of planning an attack on an Ikea store in Abu Dhabi and preparing to assassinate an unspecified Emirati leader, according to The National.

It said the suspect denied all charges and alleged he had been held in solitary confinement for six months after being arrested in November 2014.

The UAE is part of the U.S.-led coalition that has been carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria since September last year and has upped security measures since the wave of Arab Spring protests that swept the region in 2011.

Authorities have enacted tougher anti-terror legislation, including harsher jail terms and even introducing the death penalty for crimes linked to religious hatred and "takfiri groups".