UAEPeople & Culture

UAE: Severe fines and jail term for defaming religion

Through a tweet posted on social media, the crime of defamation of religion was clarified.

According to the law on combating discrimination and hatred, whoever commits any of the following acts is considered a perpetrator of the offence of blasphemy:

  • Offending, showing contempt or irreverence toward the Divine Entity
  • Offending, insulting, challenging , defaming or disrespecting any religion or any of its rituals or sacred things, or disrupting or preventing licensed religious observances or ceremonies by violence or threat.
  • Distorting, destroying, desecrating or insulting, in any way, any of the holy books.
  • Insulting, disrespecting, offending or defaming one of the messengers or their spouses , family or companions.
  • Destroying, damaging or desecrating the sanctity of places of worship, cemeteries or graves, appurtenances or any of their contents.

Article 5 of the same law stipulates that whoever commits any of the acts stipulated in it shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of no less than five years and a fine of no less than Dhs250,000 and not more than Dhs1 million, or one of these two penalties.

The same law also stipulates that whoever commits any of the acts stipulated in items 1 and 4 in it shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of no less than seven years and a fine of no less than Dhs500,000 and not more than Dhs2 million.

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Gulf Today
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