ABU DHABI // Witnesses on Monday told the Federal Supreme Court that they had viewed insulting tweets allegedly posted by an Emirati, in which he published rumours detrimental to public peace.
N F, 27, is accused of using Twitter to put out views and information that disturbed the public peace. He is alleged to have called the judicial procedures in the 2012 sedition trial a farce and insulted the Rulers and symbols of the UAE.
At a previous hearing, he denied the charges, claiming that hackers had accessed his account and posted the messages.
On Monday, E S, an investigator for the state security service, was asked to verify information published on N F’s Twitter account. The witness said it contained insults to the country’s leadership.
“Through technical tools and investigations we found the account with the defendant’s name and profile picture,” he said. “The account’s information is clear – it insults the UAE, the leaders and entities like the Judicial Department and the state security.
“We also found N F to be a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood members.
“The account is under his personal name and has a picture of him. His purpose was to try to shift the public’s opinion on the country and royal family, which harms our leaders and the country as a whole.”
An electronic evidence expert from Abu Dhabi Police, H S, said her role was to link the defendant to any online accounts he has. “I found his email, Twitter account, and saw chats on WhatsApp. Upon accessing the Twitter accounts, I found his insulting tweets,” she said.
N F’s lawyer, Yousef Al Ali, asked the witness if it was possible to hack the account.
H S said Twitter was owned by a company that would allow you to access the account through a username and password, and that she “did not see signs of hacking”.
N F asked the court to allow him to meet his father and lawyer. Judge Falah Al Hajeri granted the request and adjourned the case to June 22, when the prosecution will present its final arguments.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae