Reporter 'did contribute to winning article'

Dubai: A journalist who claimed his contribution to a prize-winning investigative report was not acknowledged has won his case in the Court of Appeal.

The court ordered the Dubai Press Club (DPC) to include him among the winners of the Arab Journalism Award (AJA) for the best investigative reporting of 2005.

The court also ordered the DPC, the AJA's organisers, to preserve the intellectual property right of the Jordanian journalist, M.K., by documenting his contribution to the winning report.

The journalist claimed in his civil lawsuit that the Dubai Press Club erroneously awarded a Saudi magazine editor the AJA for best investigative reporting.

The Dubai Civil Court earlier dismissed the lawsuit of M.K., who once worked for the Saudi magazine. In his lawsuit, he claimed that the DPC awarded the magazine's managing editor the prize for the best investigative report, which he claimed to have contributed to.

The magazine is a member of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG).

The journalist lodged a lawsuit against the DPC, the managing editor, the magazine and SRMG and claimed Dh500,000 for estimated accrued financial and intellectual damages.

The Dubai Civil Court had earlier cleared the defendants and dismissed the case due to lack of evidence. DPC advocate Dr Habib Al Mulla, of Habib Al Mulla and Co Advocates and Legal Consultants, dismissed the journalist's "false claims" and asked the court to reject the lawsuit.

The Jordanian's lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kumity appealed the initial ruling and handed the appeal court a document specifying the amount of the AJA award, $15,000 (Dh55,000) and asked the defendants to provide a magazine issue from which his client's name was reportedly removed. The ruling is still subject to appeal before the Dubai Court of Cassation.