Dubai: A visitor lost his appeal and will spend a year in jail for creating a Snapchat account and profiling himself as a prostitute, uploading his nude images.
A lieutenant at Dubai Police’s cybercrime section spotted the man’s profile during on a cyber patrol and found the defendant promoting prostitution and sex services on Snapchat in June 2018.
Nicknaming the account ‘kisses967’, the profile owner had posted still and video images of pornographic nature, offering his services.
Cybercrime policemen identified the Snapchat account owner as a 22-year-old Moroccan visitor, who walked into the police station on his own and surrendered himself.
In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the defendant for a year for abusing social media by creating an account to post pornographic images and offer sexual services. He was found guilty of having sex with men for money.
The accused appealed his primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have a reduced punishment.
On Sunday, the Dubai Appeal Court dismissed the defendant’s appeal and upheld his primary judgement.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif said the accused, who had pleaded guilty, will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
Records said when confronted about his profile on the messaging app, the defendant said he had set up the Snapchat account, posted nude images and promoted prostitution with men.
Police seized the defendant’s Samsung phone, on which a number of indecent photos and videos, were found when forensic experts examined it.
Presiding judge Al Sharif also upheld the lower court’s decision to erase the pornographic images and confiscate the devices used to post the images. The cybercrime police lieutenant said he discovered the Snapchat account that promoted prostitution while carrying out a routine cyber patrol.
“After identifying the culprit, we circulated an arrest warrant. He surrendered himself the next morning at 10am. During questioning, he claimed that he profiled himself on Snapchat as a prostitute. He also uploaded images of his private parts. He further admitted that when he became unemployed, he decided to earn his living by having paid sex with men, for Dh1,000 to Dh1,500 per client. He also said that he lured several clients before he getting exposed and had paid sex with those clients,” the lieutenant said.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
