Dubai: Promoting any form of sexual activities on social media networks is punishable by law and could land the offender in a court.
This is what happened to a man, who has been accused of working as a male prostitute and promoting sex services to clients via different social media networks by posting nude photos of women and ‘lady boys’.
Dubai Police’s cybercrime section was said to have noticed during a random cyber-inspection search that the 29-year-old Moroccan man had established profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat promoting sex services for fees ranging between Dh1,000 and Dh1,500 in December.
Following his arrest in a sting operation, preliminary investigation revealed that the Moroccan had sex with 300 men and that he had 400 followers and there were more than 200 comments on his profiles on the social media networks.
Police commissioned one of its policemen at the cybercrime section who communicated with the Moroccan by posing as a sex client and had the latter apprehended in a sting operation.
Prosecutors accused the 29-year-old of working as a male prostitute, seducing and inciting others to have sex with him against money and publishing nude photos of women and lady boys on the social media networks.
He pleaded guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
He confessed before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal that he had worked as a male prostitute, promoted sex on the social media and posted immoral photos.
A lieutenant at Dubai Police’s cybercrime section testified to prosecutors that they were doing a random surfing on the social media networks when they discovered that someone had been promoting sex services on Twitter and Facebook.
“We came across an advertisement on social media that was promoting on-call massage and hair-removal services at a hotel or home. The accounts also had pictures of nude women and lady boys. Further inspections exposed that the same person had established those accounts. We commissioned a policeman to pose as a sex client, contact the person, and arrange a meeting with him. As part of the sting operation, the policeman called up the person who turned out to be the Moroccan suspect, who agreed to have sex with the policeman for Dh1,200. The suspect was apprehended and during questioning, he admitted that he had been working as a prostitute. He confessed that he had offered sexual massage services to nearly 300 men for Dh1,000 to Dh1,500,” the lieutenant testified to prosecutors.
Police seized the smart phone that the suspect had used to manage his accounts on social media.
A ruling will be heard on May 21.
