Asians charged with offending Islam land in court

Ihab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court heard on Wednesday the case of three Asian suspects charged with posting pictures and publications containing phrases offending the Islamic religion and its sanctities via the Facebook and the Instagram.

The witness who reported the defendants, an Asian, working as a Government Relation manager at a famous Dubai hotel, indicated he had received a communication from the hotel security that the suspects put bad pictures and writings against Islam in their accounts on the Internet.

The witness summoned the suspects who admitted that they had sent those pictures through their accounts on the media, so the witness informed the police.

Another witness, a Dubai police sergeant, affirmed that a report had been received from the Al Barsha Police Station about the incident, and they rushed to the suspects’ residence where the police found mobile phones and laptops, which were referred to the Criminal Evidence to be checked.

On being questioned, the suspects admitted they had published photos which offended the Islamic religion and Muslims on social media, a week after the Sri Lanka bombings.

In a seperate case, the Dubai Public Prosecution referred an unemployed Gulf citizen, 37, to the Dubai Criminal Court on charges of assaulting two policemen who came to arrest him for possessing narcotics and abusing psychotropic substances.

Earlier, Dubai Police’s Anti-narcotics Department received a tip-off from a reliable source that the defendant was abusing narcotics and psychotropic substances. A search warrant was issued by the Dubai Public Prosecution and a witness accompanied by a group of the department staff and a policewoman headed to the defendant’s apartment. As soon as the police agents entered the apartment, the defendant followed them and a heated argument erupted which snowballed into a brawl.

The defendant was arrested and after searching his apartment, hashish and crystal methamphetamine in rolls, bags and syringes were seized.

A second witness who took part in arresting the defendant stated that they went to the defendant’s apartment when they knocked at the door, the defendant’s wife opened it. Asked about her husband, she said he was asleep. She, however, waked him up and told him that police agents wanted him. Asked about the narcotics, the defendant told the police about a bag containing the said narcotics. After testing a sample, the defendant was found to be abusing hashish or marijuana, amphetamine and methamphetamine.