Dubai: A Dubai-based security firm has launched an investigation against one of its staff who made an insensitive comment on a Facebook post mourning the death of 49 Muslim worshippers during the terror attacks in Christchurch in New Zealand on Friday.
The man who works as a safety and security officer at Transguard Group in Dubai expressed joy over the massacre and said such attacks should be carried out during Friday prayers at other mosques as well.
In an email statement to Gulf News, a senior representative of Transguard said: “We are currently investigating the matter; however, the opinion expressed by (the man) is his and his alone — Transguard in no way supports his position and we stand with the UAE in condemning [Friday’s] attack on New Zealand.”
The representative said the matter in under investigation and that the company would deal with it in due course.
This is not the first time when someone has landed in trouble because of a social media post. Last year a man in Dubai was fired after he uploaded a video on Facebook in which he threatened to kill Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and rape his family. The 56-year-old, a rigging supervisor at Abu Dhabi based Target Engineering Construction, was subsequently sacked.
In 2017, another man was terminated for posting offensive Facebook messages against journalist Rana Ayyub. B.B., 31, worked at Alpha Paint in Dubai, a sister company of National Paints in Sharjah.
People who post abusive messages on social media can be tried under the UAE Cybercrime law which stipulates stiff penalties such as jail terms and/or fines between Dh50,000 and Dh3 million.
