Dubai Appeals court overturns man’s jail sentence for naked video threats

Dubai Court of Appeal rules that criminal court did not have jurisdiction to issue a verdict on the case.

DUBAI // A sales manager who was sentenced to three months in jail and deportation for issuing threats has won his appeal against the verdict.

Syrian A T, 45, was charged with and convicted of threatening to post pictures and videos of a woman on the internet if she did not strip for him in front of a camera.

Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him but the Appeal Court on Wednesday cancelled the verdict of the lower court, saying that it is not within the criminal court’s jurisdiction to issue a verdict on this matter. The reason for that is because the woman involved in the case is outside of the UAE.

J A, whose nationality and age were not given, said in records that the defendant was the brother of her Blackberry Messenger female friend, with whom she exchanged pictures.

“My friend told me her brother had seen my picture and wanted to marry me,” said J A, who added that they later chatted on Skype and she noticed that he was filming her during the conversation using his mobile phone.

“He then asked me to strip for him or he would post all the pictures and films he had taken on YouTube and other social networks, which made me give in.”

The woman said the Syrian later threatened that he would put the stripping videos online if she did not have sex with him.

The incidents allegedly happened in June 2013, after which the woman emailed a complaint to Dubai Police about her problem.

The Syrian was arrested on June 10 that year and allegedly confessed to threatening the woman.

Yemeni policeman A A testified that the defendant confessed that he had threatened her to scare her because she ended their relationship and stopped taking his calls.

“He told me that he was depressed and when he called her to ask why she had ended the relationship, she told him she wanted to devote herself to her husband and children,” A A said.

The court heard that images taken from the defendant’s confiscated electronic devices were of other women and only some of them were inappropriate. No images related to the case have been found.