Anti-Rumours and Cybercrime Prosecution orders arrest of a video clip publisher for exciting propaganda, offending public opinion

The Federal Prosecution for Combating Rumours and Cybercrimes has ordered the detention of a resident of Asian nationality pending investigations after being accused of abusing the internet in posting a propaganda video that stirs up the public opinion and harms the public interest.

He is also charged with publishing a content that is inconsistent with the media content standards and insults the Emirati society after the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the UAE Attorney General Office monitored a video clip on social media platforms filming the defendant wearing an Emirati dress inside a luxury car showroom followed by two persons carrying what appears to be large sums of money.

He is then seen talking with the owner of the showroom, in which he arrogantly asks to buy a car that is more expensive than Dhs2 million. He is also shown distributing financial packages to the showroom employees in a way that reveals imprudence and lack of appreciation of the value of money, in a manner that promotes a wrong and offensive image of Emirati citizens and ridicules them, and then incites and provokes public opinion, which harms the public interest.

The Public Prosecution ordered the summoning of the owner of the car showroom in which the aforementioned video clip was filmed.

The Public Prosecution urged the social media users in the UAE to observe the legal and ethical regulations in the media content they publish and to consider societal characteristics and embedded values of the UAE society that call for moral commitment in all aspects of behaviour, so as to avoid falling under the force of the law.