Journalists get bail after appeal

Dubai: Two senior Khaleej Times journalists, who were each given a two-month jail term for libelling an Iranian woman on Sunday, were let out on bail after appealing the sentence.

Indian S.K. Gangadharan, who was the then managing editor, and Egyptian senior reporter, Mohsen Rashid, turned themselves in to the Criminal Rulings Execution Section at the Dubai Courts Department yesterday.

They appealed against the verdict which was handed by the Dubai Court of Misdemeanour earlier this week after being found guilty of libelling the Iranian woman, S.H.

Gangadharan and Rashid were issued bails upon a recognisance issued by their newspaper.

The Public Prosecution charged the two defendants with publishing a defamatory article in the newspaper where they worked on June 28, 2006.

In her complaint the woman accused the defendants of defaming her after publishing the story of her disputes with her husband.

Mohammad Yousuf, Chairman of UAE Journalists Association, said this ruling is the first of its kind against journalists working in local media. "We do not want to comment on the ruling which we respect. However, we would like to say this proves our repeated calls for cancelling imprisonment verdicts against journalists in libel cases as it terrorises them from doing their jobs."