Ras Al Khaimah: Beware of recording a phone call as it can land you behind bars for breach of privacy, said a court official.
In a recent incident, an Emirati woman was sentenced by a Ras Al Khaimah court to a suspended one-month jail term and ordered to pay a fine of Dh200 on the charge of recording a phone conversation, a judiciary official at the court said.
He said the Emirati woman was forced to record a phone conversation with an Arab national she had hired to complete her transactions in a government department for Dh110. The woman recorded the call in order to obtain a confession from the man for failing to fulfil his part of the contract despite having taken the money. He had also stopped answering her calls and gave different excuses to justify why he had not completed her transactions, said the official.
He said the woman went to the RAK police headquarters to file a case against the Arab man and played the recorded call to the police. But this step was taken against her as it was considered "unauthorised to interfere in the privacy and sanctity of others".
The Arab man was sentenced to six months followed by deportation on charges of cheating and theft, the official said.
Meanwhile, the Emirati woman's lawyer said he will refute the accusations against his client at the next hearing on November 14.
