Instagram messages, duplicate SIM card and divorce: Inside an Ajman court case

Ajman: An Ajman court has acquitted a Gulf national and another man charged with exchanging sexual messages through Instagram allegedly intended to promote vice, after the woman’s husband accused them of engaging in the conversations.

The Third Misdemeanour Circuit of the Ajman Federal Court of First Instance ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish the defendants’ involvement in the disputed Instagram accounts or prove the charges with sufficient evidence.

The defendants were charged under Article 362(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021. The court acquitted them under Article 211 of the Federal Criminal Procedure Law, finding that the alleged offence had not been established.

The case began with a complaint by the husband, who alleged that his wife and another man had exchanged sexual conversations through Instagram.

Both defendants denied any connection to the accounts during police questioning and Public Prosecution investigations.

The defence argued that the allegations had been fabricated amid an ongoing marital dispute. The lawyer representing the wife alleged that her husband had obtained a duplicate SIM card linked to her telephone number and used it to download social media applications before fabricating the messages cited in the complaint.

The defence also said the husband had previously made similar allegations, which resulted in acquittals because of insufficient credible evidence. It argued that the latest proceedings were intended to undermine the wife’s financial rights and child custody claims amid divorce proceedings.

Investigators were unable to conclusively link either defendant to the Instagram accounts. Inquiries with the relevant electronic crimes departments did not produce definitive evidence identifying the account holders.

Authorities also noted that Instagram’s operator was outside the UAE, making it impossible to obtain the relevant account data without a specific judicial order.

The defence also challenged the evidentiary value of a mobile phone submitted in the case, arguing that investigators had failed to establish that the device belonged to the wife.

The court found that the technical gaps and doubts over the authenticity of the messages left insufficient evidence to establish the defendants’ guilt.

It stressed that criminal convictions must rest on reliable evidence rather than suspicion or speculation, and that any reasonable doubt must be resolved in favour of the accused.

The court therefore acquitted both defendants under Article 211 of the Federal Criminal Procedure Law, which provides for acquittal when the alleged incident has not been established.

The Public Prosecution has appealed the verdict. The defence has submitted further memoranda urging the appellate court to uphold the acquittal. The appeal remains under consideration.