Two former Al Dhafra footballers have jail terms suspended

Two footballers who posted an offensive video online have had their jail terms suspended by an appeals court on Wednesday.

ABU DHABI // Two footballers who posted an offensive video online had their jail terms suspended by an appeals court on Wednesday.

A Q, 29, a former Al Dhafra player, was filmed by his colleague, R M, in the dressing room. He appeared shirtless, made indecent gestures and insulted the UAE national team coach, Mahdi Ali, for substituting him during the match. A Q was suspended from Al Dhafra Club shortly after the video was released.

The misdemeanours court found the pair guilty and sentenced them to three months in prison for using telecommunications services to offend and hurt the feelings of others, and displaying a recording that breached public ethics.

Their co-defendant, J M, who was the owner of the website that published the video, was cleared by the first instance court, but was later given a three-month suspended jail sentence by the appeals court.

J M was arrested with the two players when public prosecution pressed charges. He was accused of using information technology methods to edit the recording for defamation purposes and using the internet to publish the defamed person’s photo illegally.

The case was not driven by a complaint from the victim, Mahdi Ali. The charges were only pressed a few months later after the video went viral. Members of the public found it offensive and public prosecution viewed it as contrary to the cyber crime law and ordered the arrests.

After J M was cleared by the misdemeanour court, public prosecution appealed his acquittal, while A Q and R M appealed their convictions.

The trio plead not guilty throughout their trials.

A Q’s lawyer, Mohammed Al Marzouqi, said he would be appealing the verdict at the court of cassation to seek his client’s acquittal.