Umm Al Quwain: A pilot on Tuesday escaped jail and deportation and will pay a fine for posting traffic accident footage on YouTube, after his lawyer convinced a court that his client had no criminal intention.
The Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) Appeals Court yesterday overturned the primary judgment, one month in jail followed by deportation, and fined the Russian pilot Dh5,000 for posting on YouTube the footage without permission of the people involved in the accident.
His lawyer Hamdan Al Harmi argued: "My client had no criminal intention when he posted the footage. He also did not have any devilish or evil motivations… the primary court handed him a month in jail and deportation. We ask the Appeal Court to be lenient with him."
No permission
UAQ prosecutors had accused the defendant of breaching the privacy of a Russian man and his wife by taking footage of them on his mobile phone camera after their involvement in a traffic accident.
He was accused of shooting the footage with the couple's permission and posting it on the internet. When the suspect appeared before the UAQ Misdemeanour Court, he did not have a lawyer.
He was sentenced to a month in jail followed by deportation after he pleaded guilty.
However he hired advocate Al Harmi to represent him before the Appeals Court.
"The suspect did not know any of the parties who were involved in the accident. Out of good intention and while shooting the video, the couple suddenly appeared in front of the camera… the husband also acted strangely. The footage clearly shows that my client did not have any intention to include the couple in the video.
"The Russian claimants have also waived their case against my client," contended Al Harmi before the appeals judge.
Prosecution records said a friend of the couple informed them that she spotted the footage on YouTube.
The couple immediately reported the incident to police.
Al Harmi said his client did not post the footage on YouTube.
He said the footage was stolen from his mobile phone and posted by someone else.
