Man hit police officers after being asked to wear face mask, Dubai court hears

The incident happened in the Naif area on January 29

A Dubai court has granted a retrial to an Emirati man who was convicted of causing his friend’s death in a Shisha fire. AFP

A man in Dubai was arrested for hitting police officers after being asked to wear face a mask, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

He and another man are also accused of insulting the officers.

The Egyptian men, 46 and 32, were arrested in the Naif area, after the older man insulted and punched two officers in the early hours of January 29, the court heard.

Judges were told officers had stopped the pair for not wearing face masks.

"They were part of a group of four but only the two of them were not wearing masks," one of the police officers told the court.

Both men were handed fines for flouting Covid-19 safety rules.

The older man, a lawyer, offered to pay the fine on the spot, the court heard.

“I told him it wasn’t my duty to receive cash and asked him for his identification card,” the officer said.

The man told the officer that his ID card had been confiscated by police for a previous mask offence.

The officers asked the man to come to the police station but he tried to run away.

He was caught after he bumped into a lamp post and fell. He then started insulting the police officers and punching them, the court heard.

The other man filmed the incident and insulted the officers when he was asked to stop, said police.

Both men were arrested.

They deny charges of physical assault and insulting police officers.

A verdict is expected on April 11.