Pair ordered to pay Dh13,000 on defamation charges

Abu Dhabi: Two Asians have been ordered to pay Dh13,000 in punitive damages for publishing a picture belonging to a fellow countrywoman on several social networking websites without her permission, the Abu Dhabi Civil Court of Appeals ruled last week. The court published the verdict on Saturday.

The pair faced additional charges of defamation.

The plaintiff had initially filed a complaint with the Bani Yas police reporting that the defendants had harassed her and called her workplace and her boss in addition to defaming her on social networking websites.

The first offender had confessed to obtaining the plaintiff’s password from a colleague. However, she claimed that her only reason for calling the complainant’s boss is because the hotel where the plaintiff worked was not picking up her call to make a massage appointment at the venue.

The second defendant also admitted to opening an account on a social networking website and placing a picture belonging to the plaintiff but denied having written any offensive comments.

During her appearance in court, the plaintiff asked that a total of Dh150,000 be given to her as financial compensation for having to resign from her job as an alleged result of the defamation which she stated had also compromised her role as a provider to her only son. In addition, the plaintiff highlighted that she also suffered from moral damages when she felt humiliated after the pictures were posted on the website.

However, several circumstances lead the court to reduce the compensation amount to Dh13,000. First, the court found a lack of documents proving that the plaintiff had resigned unwillingly as a result of the defendants’ acts. In addition, the non-sensitive nature of the pictures posted and the absence of offensive comments on the website caused the court to reduce the amount to be paid by the offenders.