By AFP

DUBAI (AFP), Apr 27 :  Emirati authorities confirmed on Monday that five activists are being held in custody for "opposing the government system" and "insulting" Emirati leaders, in a statement on official news agency WAM.

"A group of UAE (United Arab Emirates) citizens were arrested on order of the public prosecution and questioned in the presence of their lawyers," said an English-language statement by UAE Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish.

They "were held... for being found committing crimes of instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose threat to state security, undermining the public order, opposing the government system, and insulting the president, the vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi."

Amnesty International on Thursday said that Ahmed Mansoor, a blogger and civil society activist, and economist Nasser bin Gaith have been questioned by the prosecutor for the UAE's state security court in Abu Dhabi.

In Monday's statement, Kubaish said that three others were being held in addition to Mansoor and Gaith.

He identified them as two other Emiratis -- Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis -- and "Ahmed Abdul Khaleq, who does not carry identification papers."

All of them "were held in preventive custody for investigation," said the statement.

According to Amnesty, which has described the activists as "prisoners of conscience," Mansoor was arrested on April 8 and Gaith was jailed two days later.

The UAE, a coalition of seven Gulf emirates led by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has not seen any popular protests calling for reform like those that have swept other Arab countries, including Gulf states Bahrain and Oman.