Dubai court acquits husband of filming wife without consent

Dubai: A long and unusual courtroom battle between a European couple in Dubai has ended with the emirate’s highest court overturning earlier convictions against a man accused by his wife of secretly filming her inside their home without consent.

The case, which began when the woman filed a police complaint accusing her husband of violating her privacy, raised questions about the boundaries of marital relations and the interpretation of the UAE’s laws on electronic crimes and personal privacy.

According to court documents, the 38-year-old man’s wife told police that her husband had developed an “obsession” with recording her. 

She alleged he repeatedly photographed and filmed her when she was in private or emotionally vulnerable moments, including when she cried or argued. 

She further claimed that he installed surveillance cameras throughout their residence, ostensibly to monitor a housemaid, but which she believed were in fact intended to track her movements.

The Public Prosecution charged the man under the UAE’s cybercrime and privacy laws, seeking to hold him accountable for unauthorized recordings. 

Digital forensic experts from Dubai Police confirmed the presence of personal images of the wife on the husband’s phone, which she said were taken without her consent.

The Court of First Instance sided with the wife, convicting the man of violating her privacy and fining him Dh5,000. Her demand for financial compensation was referred to civil court. 

The ruling was later upheld by the Court of Appeal, which rejected the husband’s argument that the recordings had been consensual or within the scope of marital life.

Throughout the proceedings, the man denied wrongdoing, insisting that his wife had willingly shared photographs with him and accusing her of filing the case out of marital disputes. His lawyer argued that the lower courts had misapplied the law.

After years of litigation, the case reached Dubai’s Court of Cassation, which took the unusual step of overturning both prior rulings. 

The emirate’s highest court acquitted the man, dismissing the privacy violation charges in what observers described as one of the more peculiar marital disputes to come before Dubai’s judiciary.