ABU DHABI // An Emirati man accused of insulting a foreign country on the internet was only defending his homeland, his lawyer has claimed.
MA, 27, is standing trial in the State Security Division of the Federal Supreme Court on charges that he ran an online account that could have harmed relations between the UAE and Oman.
His lawyer, Raed Al Awlaqi, claimed his client only made the statements on BlackBerry Messenger and should be “praised not prosecuted”.
“The insults thrown using the application were in defence of the country’s leaders,” said Mr Al Awlaqi.
“The men that MA was chatting with had insulted the UAE and the leaders, and all my client did was insult them back.”
While MA was “wrong to do so” he was motivated by his “love of his country”, said Mr Al Awlaqi.
“I am a lawyer, yet I would have done the same in the defence of my country. MA is a victim of love of his country,” he said.
He said the case should not have been referred to the court as it was not its “speciality”.
“The charges state he had established an account, but everyone knows any BlackBerry mobile phone comes with an account as part of its messenger,” he said.
He also said insulting another country was not a crime under the UAE’s laws.
The verdict will be announced on October 26.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
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The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
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The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
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The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
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Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
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