Melanie Gingell, the U.K.-based Gulf Center For Human Rights, said her group requested to attend the hearing over the weekend but so far had heard nothing.

NPR: Trial Starts In UAE For 94 Charged In Coup Plot

"They have been taking small steps progressing toward democracy but in the last two years it seems they have been retracting greatly on that progress when you see an instance like this where international lawyers from the United Kingdom, Norway are turned away, " Gingell said.

NPR: Trial Starts In UAE For 94 Charged In Coup Plot