SMS abuse: UAE court fines man Dh1,000

If you think you can swear at someone and avert his reaction face to face by merely texting him on his mobile phone, then you should have second thoughts.

A man who swore at another by texting him the words was fined Dh1,000 in the UAE after he was found guilty of insulting the plaintiff.

The case was not a simple one as it was handled by two separate courts in the country before reaching the highest judicial authority—the Federal Supreme Court (FSC).

The defendant was found guilty of abusing the plaintiff by a court of first instance and the ruling was upheld later by an appeals court.

The defendant appealed again with the FSC, which supported the previous sentence and fined him Dh1,000 on charges of insulting another man over the phone.

Although he considered his text to the plaintiff as insult-free, the court found that it contained enough abusive words to condemn him.

“The defendant also tried to deny the charges but he was faced with evidence contained in the plaintiff’s mobile phone which showed he received insulting texts from the plaintiff…one text said ‘you are a liar..,.your wife is a liar and your whole family are liars,” the Arabic language daily Emarat Al Youm said.

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