British tourist fined for insulting Islam in shop

The 40-year-old man handed a Dh3,000 fine for insulting the Prophet Mohammed in Mall of the Emirates.

DUBAI // A 40-year-old tourist who insulted Islam and called the Prophet Mohammed a terrorist was fined Dh3,000 yesterday.

AG, a Briton, was charged on May 18 in the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours.

In his court appearance last month he was sent away after appearing in shorts. He was ordered to be suitably dressed before being allowed to enter a plea and deny the charges.

The tourist visited the Emax store in Mall of the Emirates on March 3 and uttered insulting remarks to the salesman HH, 21, from Pakistan.

"I spoke with him about the problems between the Pakistani government and Taliban, and when I understood from his responses that he was a supporter of the Taliban, I told him he was crazy because they were terrorists and they kill people and carry out bombings," AG told police. "I didn't say anything bad about Muslims and the Prophet."

HH also told investigators that he told AG he was a Muslim and that the greeting he received in response was "namaste", which is Hindi.

HH said he saw AG back in the mall again on March 11 and called security as well as police.