The UAE’s strict cyber-crime legal guidelines have come under scrutiny repeatedly after it emerged that a British female arrested ultimate week in Dubai may also face up to two years in jail for making insulting remarks on Facebook about her ex-husband’s new wife.
Londoner Laleh Shahravesh was arrested at Dubai airport. The 55-12 months-vintage idea to be of Iranian descent turned into them on her way to wait for her former husband’s funeral.
According to the campaign organization Detained in Dubai, Shahravesh changed into married to her ex-husband for 18 years, in which she lived in the UAE for eight months. While she returned to the United Kingdom and her daughter, her husband stayed within the UAE, and the couple got divorced.
Shahravesh has observed that her ex-husband turned into remarrying whilst in 2016 she noticed photographs of the brand new couple on Facebook. She described the new spouse, Samah Al Hammadi, as a “horse” and known as her former husband an “idiot.”
Writing in Farsi, Shahravesh is reported to have stated: “I hope you cross under the floor, you fool. Damn you. You left me for this horse”.
Shahravesh and her 14-12 months-antique daughter flew again to Dubai on 10 March to wait for the funeral of her former husband, who had died of a coronary heart attack. She became arrested at the airport after her ex-husband’s new wife, who lives in Dubai, stated the remarks that were made almost three years in the past.
Following her arrest, Al Hammadi becomes pronounced, announcing that she had “suffered in silence” for years and alleged that Shahravesh had despatched severa disparaging and abusive feedback since the divorce.
Under the UAE’s cyber-crime legal guidelines, a person may be jailed or fined for making defamatory statements on social media. Shahravesh may face up to 2 years in jail or a first-rate of £50,000, despite the fifty five-12 months-vintage writing the Facebook posts while within the UK.
The case raises similar questions over the UAE’s response to issues associated with cyber safety, which came below grievance after UAE courts issued British academic Matthew Hedges a life sentence.
Hedges became later released after the Foreign Office (FCO) intervened on his behalf and, at the moment, is seeking to lose Shahravesh. It’s reported that officials on the FCO asked Al Hammadi to withdraw the allegation, but she is said to have refused.
The FCO stated in a statement: “Our body of workers are helping a British lady and her family following her detention in the UAE.”
According to the BBC, Shahravesh’s 14-year-antique daughter is putting an enchantment collectively for her mother’s launch. It additionally stated that the FCO had come underneath complaint from rights organization for failing to thoroughly warn vacationer approximately the UAE’s complicated and extreme cyber-crime legal guidelines.
