Student has Dh500,000 fine added to sentence for blasphemy

The Jordanian was originally sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation

A university student had a Dh500,000 fine added to his three-month jail sentence by Dubai Court of Appeal for making blasphemous statements in public.

The 24-year-old Jordanian made the statements on campus during an argument with a fellow student who was confronting him about molesting his fiancée.

Prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court he made foul comments against God on January 22.

He was charged with blasphemy, harassment of a female student and issuing threats, which he denied in court, claiming the woman threatened to have him imprisoned.

“She told me she could send me to jail so I just responded to what she said telling her that we are in a country of law and that she would be jailed for threatening me,” the man told judges.

The Jordanian female student, 23, told the court she was with her friend at university when the man began harassing her.

Read more: Angry spurned student 'told woman he would send her to prison'

“I asked him to stop and walked away but he followed us and started walking around me in circles. He then stood uncomfortably close to me that I got really embarrassed, and when I stepped aside to move away from him, he again came towards me spreading his arms wide to hug me,” said the woman.

She argued with him while her friend rushed to the cafeteria to informed the victim’s fiancé.

“I took him aside and started talking to him politely about his reasons to follow my fiancé around but he pushed me then started cursing and saying extremely inappropriate words about Allah,” the victim’s fiancé told judges.

The 23-year-old man said he asked the accused to calm down then walked him to a nearby car park to talk, but the defendant went back to harass the victim.

“I will send you jail you. I have not yet hurt you, but I will soon,” he said to the woman, according to court records.

The couple contacted police who arrived to campus but the defendant declined to accompany them to the police station.

Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to three months in jail to be followed by deportation which he appealed against, requesting he be acquitted of all charges.

Dubai Court of Appeal rejected his request, upheld his jail sentence and deportation then ordered him to pay a Dh500,000 fine.