Dubai: Dubai Appeal Court upheld a one-year jail sentence for a welder for posting offensive remarks on Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in his Facebook account.
The court confirmed the Dh500,000 fine issued by Dubai Court of First Instance earlier this year.
A grocery store worker was surfing his Facebook newsfeed when he noticed the slanderous remarks posted by the 31-year-old Indian welder in November last year.
The Indian worker reported the matter to Al Rashidiya police station.
The worker knew where the welder lived and guided the police to his residence, where the 31-year-old was apprehended.
When he was first questioned, the welder told police that his phone had been hacked and that someone had posted those comments on his Facebook page.
The court convicted the defendant of using Facebook to post offensive remarks. He pleaded not guilty in court.
The defendant will be deported after serving the punishment, according to the primary ruling.
When questioned by prosecutors, the suspect claimed his phone had been hacked and that he had not posted those comments on Facebook.
The Indian worker testified to interrogators that a Facebook user informed him that he knew the person who had posted the comments.
“I headed to the address of the suspect, who lives near a mosque in Al Rashidiya … the man was drunk and I felt angry because he had cursed and offended the Prophet. Therefore, I reported the matter to the nearest police station,” he said.
Records said Dubai Police’s criminal investigation report did not confirm that the defendant’s Facebook account had been hacked or whether he was the one who had personally posted the comments.
