Dh1 million fine and 5 years in jail for man who posted videos online promoting ISIL

ABU DHABI // A man was fined Dh1 million and jailed for five years for posting two videos on social media supporting ISIL.

Khaled Faisal, 37, from Palestine, was convicted by the Federal Supreme Court of promoting the terrorist group on social media and pledging allegiance to it in the videos.

Faisal published two videos with footage of Dubai and its landmarks that were edited with audio of ISIL propaganda in the background.

In one of the scenes, he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL.

In a caption, Faisal pledged to support the organisation’s leader in the UAE. He was also found guilty of creating a Twitter account to spread information promoting ISIL.

In his post, Faisal described ISIL as the “bayonet of Muslims” and referred to Al Baghdadi as a “lion’s cub”.

The court ordered that Faisal be deported after completing his sentence and that online pages where the video appeared be shut down.

People convicted under the UAE’s anti-terrorist legislation face fines of up to Dh100m.