The United Arab Emirates has prescribed a 15 year jail term for
persons expressing sympathy towards Qatar. In what may be described as a move
at censorship, the UAE's Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, released a statement
today Wednesday, saying sympathising with Qatar was a cybercrime punishable by
law.
"Strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows
sympathy or any form of bias towards Qatar, or against anyone who objects to
the position of the United Arab Emirates, whether it be through the means of
social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form," Gulf News
quoted Shamsi as saying in the statement.
The Federal Public Prosecution also announced that according to the
Federal Penal Code and the Federal law decree on Combating Information
Technology Crimes, anyone who threaten the interests, national unity and
stability of the UAE will face a jail term from three to 15 years, and a fine
not less than AED 500,000 ($136,000).
All of this is as a result of a diplomatic row where Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the
United Arab Emirates and Egypt severed
diplomatic ties and transport links with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of
supporting "extremism".
Qatar has been trending and has been among the top topics discussed on
Twitter in Arabic, which is a hugely popular medium of expression in the Arab
world, particularly in Saudi
Arabia. The dispute between Qatar and the Arab countries escalated after a
recent hack of Qatar's state-run news agency.
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