Man fined by Dubai court for sharing thousands of indecent images online

Police discovered haul of images and recordings stored on phones and laptops

A man has been fined by a Dubai court for sharing thousands of indecent images and recordings. Photo: The National

A man who shared more than 2,600 indecent images and recordings of children online has been fined by a Dubai court.

Dubai Police took action after being alerted to suspicious activity by the force's cyber crimes unit in March last year.

Officers traced the source of some of the video clips to the 39-year-old and obtained a search warrant from prosecutors to enter his home in Dubai.

They found 4,507 offensive images and recordings, most of which included young children and teenagers, stored on two mobile phones and three laptops.

A hard disk containing copies of the photos and clips was found in the man’s car.

He was taken into custody but was released the next day on bail.

During police and prosecution questioning and in the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours in November, he admitted downloading the clips found in his possession but denied sharing or posting them online.

He was found guilty of using an information network or information technology means to post child pornography that could entice children into sexual activity.

Judges fined him Dh200,000 ($54,450) but he took the case to the Court of Appeal, which reduced the fine to Dh20,000 at a recent hearing.