Abu Dhabi: The State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court has sentenced three British plane spotters to spend two months in jail on charges of taking photographs at the old Fujairah Airport without approval.
However, the court ordered to release the accused because they have already completed two months in custody. The court also ordered that the photographs they took should destroyed.
In their testimonies, they said they were taking the pictures because it is their hobby and they did not mean to offend the country.
According to the court details, Neil Munro, Gary Cooper and Conrad Clitheroe were accused of taking photos of aircrafts parked in Fujairah Airport. They also took down serial numbers of the aircrafts.
The trio pleaded not guilty in court, and said they had not taken pictures.
Munro, who works with the logistics team in Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai, said his friends were in the UAE for holiday. Judge Falah Al Hajeri said the court had 72 pictures of the airport taken by a telescope taken in as evidence. The defendants’ lawyer, Salem Al Hammadi, said his clients had a hobby of plane spotting.
