DUBAI, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A man from the United Arab Emirates was sentenced to death in absentia on Sunday for joining Islamic State, local media reported.

Local newspapers did not identify the man sentenced by the Abu Dhabi court. But the Arabic-language al-Bayan said he was 19-years old and said he and had been accused of joining the militant group abroad.

Rich with oil and a hub for tourism, the UAE is a Western ally that opposes Islamist groups in the region and at home.

It has suffered relatively few militant attacks, but security fears have risen since Islamic State suicide bombers launched attacks in its Gulf Arab neighbours over the summer.

Al-Ittihad, another daily, said that the Federal Supreme Court, in separate cases, sentenced two other people to seven years in jail each for trying to join Islamic State. A fourth suspect received three years in jail, the newspaper said.

The court also sentenced a Palestinian man to three years in jail and fined him 50,000 dirhams ($13,613) after he was convicted of insulting the state and promoting "terroristic thought", the newspaper said.

The UAE last year executed an Emirati woman after she was convicted of stabbing to death an American kindergarten teacher at a mall and trying to bomb an American-Egyptian doctor in militant-inspired attacks.

Her husband was charged with plotting bombings and other attacks on targets including a U.S. base and a UAE leader, according to local media.

($1 = 3.6729 UAE dirham) (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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