Man accused of shaming ex-wife to force her to divorce new husband
Suspect sent partly nude photo of his ex-wife to current husband’s phone via social media
Dubai: A welder has been accused of abusing social media to shame his ex-wife and threatening to dishonour her and her new-husband if they did not divorce.
The 42-year-old Pakistani welder, Z.R., was said to have forwarded a partly nude photo of his 24-year-old countrywoman ex-wife to her Pakistani husband and threatened to circulate similar photos over social media platforms if they did not divorce in April.
Prosecutors accused Z.R. of abusing the telecommunication system to breach his ex-wife’s privacy and modesty and threatening to shame her and her current husband.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
According to prosecution records, the suspect abused the social media [Imo app] and sent a photo of his ex-wife partly undressed to her current husband and threatened to dishonour them both if they did not divorce. He also breached the privacy and modesty of his ex-wife by circulating her photos on Facebook, Imo, WhatsApp Google plus and Twitter.
“I did not do that at all,” Z.R. told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal as he refuted his accusations.
The 24-year-old woman claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened a month after she got married.
“My ex-husband called up my new husband and told him that I am a bad woman and advised him to divorce me. He also threatened to shame us and upload indecent photos of me over the social media if we did not divorce. My husband told him that it was not his business and hung up … six months later he called my husband again but the latter did not respond. On the day of the incident, Z.R. sent to my husband, via Imo, a partly nude photo of me at 10.50pm … two hours later he called but my husband did not respond,” she testified to prosecutors.
Meanwhile the husband confirmed his wife’s statement and claimed to prosecutors: “The suspect threatened to trouble us … he wanted us to get divorced. We ignored him. When he forwarded my wife’s partly nude photo, I reported the matter to the police immediately.”
A judgement will be heard on August 24.
