Dubai: The UAE Federal Public Prosecution has warned the public against committing any act of discrimination, saying that offenders will be fined up to Dh1 million or jailed for a minimum of 5 years if they are found guilt of it.
On its Twitter page, the Public Prosecution published a video advising people not to commit any form of discrimination. According to Article 6 of the Federal Decree Law No. 2 of 2015 on Combating Discrimination and Hatred, “Any person, who commits any act of discrimination of any form by any means of expression or by any other means, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not less than five years, and by a fine not less than Dh500,000 and not exceeding Dh1 million or either one of these two penalties”.
Earlier last month, the Public Prosecution has ordered the arrest and provisional detention of an Emirati media person named TM for racist comments.
The Federal Investigations office of the Public Prosecution noticed a video of the accused being circulated online, which sought to create divisions based on ethnicity and nationality among the various communities living in the UAE. The video was particularly offensive to one community.
It was found to be an affront to the UAE and its efforts to disseminate the values of tolerance, besides violating the UAE’s foundation principles of justice and equality.
The UAE law criminalizes any acts that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online media. The law also includes provisions for punishing anyone for terming other religious groups or individuals as infidels, or unbelievers.
The law also criminalises any act that amounts to abuse of religion or vandalism of religious rituals, holy sites or symbols, and takes a serious view of violence on the basis of religious doctrines.
