Stalker denies blasphemy and death threats to Dubai doctor

A man charged with insulting Islam and threatening a female doctor he was obsessed with has denied the charges.

DUBAI // A man who became obsessed with a woman he met at a sports club threatened to burn down her home if she would not see him, a court heard today.

A?H, 23, from Lebanon, would park outside her home and her workplace and sound his car horn until she went out to meet him, prosecutors told the Criminal Court.

He called the woman, a 25-year-old doctor, hundreds of times a month and would also call her father and sister.

They met at a sports club in Sharjah last July and he offered to help her lose weight, so the woman gave him her mobile phone number.

They went out for lunch once but she indicated she was not interested in him romantically. But he refused to leave her alone and called her constantly.

The woman's sister said he would phone 50 times a day and send insulting, blasphemous messages.

Prosecutors gave the court a list of 232 calls he made, and 55 messages.

"He came to my home and demanded to see me. When I refused, he threatened to burn down the house," said the doctor.

He was arrested outside her apartment. While in custody he called her several times and threatened to kill her if she did not drop the case.

He was charged with making threats to kill, blasphemy and misusing telecommunications to insult and disturb but denied the charges.

The next hearing was scheduled for February 24.