UAE court jails citizen for spying

A United Arab Emirates court sentenced an Emirati national married to an Iranian woman to seven years in jail on Tuesday after convicting him of spying, the official WAM news agency reported.

Salem Musa Fairuz Khamis was convicted of "having contact with a foreign country" at the Supreme Federal Court, the UAE's highest court, WAM said.

The defendant had confessed to establishing contact in 2008 with two officials at an unnamed consulate "to help him with a private matter concerning his Iranian wife," it said.

The court heard that he provided the diplomats with information on the UAE armed forces based on his knowledge as a retired soldier in return for money.

Iran and the UAE are at loggerheads over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, which lie in the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.

Iran took control of the islands in 1971 when Britain withdrew from the Gulf, in an annexation still contested by the UAE.

The UAE is a staunch ally of the United States, Iran's arch rival, which is leading international efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.