UAE man jokingly calls fiancee an ‘Idiot’ on WhatsApp, goes to jail for 60 days!

No relationship is quite complete without some playful banter between you and your BAE. Nevertheless, a UAE man found himself in quite a soup when he called his fiancé an ‘idiot’ in a WhatsApp message! The soon-to-be wife took offence and reported the Abu Dhabi resident to the authorities. Even though the man protested that he sent the text in jest, the hands of the authorities were tied. His fiancé’s legitimate case has grounds considering UAE law prohibits sending content or words of an offensive nature. The results were instantaneous. The offender was prosecuted under cybercrime law, which earned him a sentence of 60 days in jail as per NDTV. What is more is that they ordered him to pay a 20,000 Dirhams as a fine. Rest assured, he won’t be calling someone a Habla (Arabic for ‘idiot’) anytime soon! Increasing Intolerance or Necessary Stringency? However, this is not the first time such an incident of prosecution occurred. Last month, a man of Arab descent was held to trial. All he did was send an explicit clip to a lady via WhatsApp. The man pleaded that it was an accident and he sent it by mistake while normally sending out prayer messages to people on his list. Nonetheless, he went to trial and faced prosecution, which begs the question as to whether these acts are an intolerance or mere necessary strictness. UAE’s Cyber Crime Law is Surprisingly Authoritarian Nevertheless, leading legal consultants in UAE opine- They maintain that any explicit messages or pictures and videos sent across via social media can lead to the sender being prosecuted. This clause is stated under the nation’s cybercrime law. Alas, the law must be enforced whether or not the content was sent intentionally. So folks, don’t forget to double-check your texts before you send them, should you be residing in the UAE!