Online verbal insults are punishable in any emirate, UAE Supreme Court rules

The ruling was made concerning a man who insulted a woman on a Dubai-based news website, but was sentenced and fined Dh10,000 by the Sharjah Court of First Instance.

ABU DHABI // Personal insults published on a website may be the subject of a prosecution in any emirate, the Supreme Court has ruled in a landmark decision.

The test case centred on a man who had been ordered by the Sharjah Court of First Instance to pay Dh10,000 in compensation to a woman he insulted on the Elaph news website.

The man argued that, according to Article 142 of penal procedures, legal proceedings must take place in the emirate where the crime took place.

His case was that because the Elaph website is based in Dubai, the complaint did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Sharjah courts, and the verdict should therefore be overturned. The Appeals Court, twice, and the Court of Cassation both ruled against him, and the Supreme Court has now done so, in a final verdict.

The court said the internet could be accessed in any emirate, and an offence committed on the internet could therefore be prosecuted in any emirate.

The law says insulting someone is a prosecutable offence, whether the insult is made verbally or in writing.

And since modern technology reaches millions of people, publishing an insult on a website is enough for the offender to be prosecuted.

In addition, because the victim had heard about the insults through members of the Sharjah Women Supreme Council, this was evidence that the offending words had been read in Sharjah.

The Supreme Court rejected the man’s cassation and upheld the original verdict.