The Rumors Law increased the penalty for false accusations on social media

Legal Advisor Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif warned individuals against rushing to direct offensive comments, false accusations, and expressions of insult and slander to others, via social media, noting that the Rumors and Electronic Crimes Law has increased the penalty for insult and slander, with imprisonment and a fine of up to half a million dirhams.

Al-Sharif said that slander in law, its exact meaning differs from it in Islamic law to some extent, because slander in Sharia law is an accusation of another person of adultery, or of denying his lineage from his father, such as one of them saying to the other, “O son of the forbidden,” or accusing him personally, such as To say to him, “All your children are forbidden children, or you have no honor, every single day is forbidden,” and this also applies if it is directed to a woman.

Al-Sharif, in episodes broadcast by “Emirates Al-Youm”, on the Law of Rumors and Electronic Crimes, defined defamation in the law as attaching a general accusation to a specific person, if there is evidence of it, and it is correct to attribute it to him. This means that it is not a condition that the accusation be accidental, but rather this extends to Everything that affects honor, such as when one person says to another, “You are a bribe-taker or a thief,” and he has no evidence for this statement, is considered slander.

He explained that insult is any word or description that exposes another to contempt, or its purpose is to belittle, and its purpose is to degrade his dignity, such as when one of them likens another to a certain animal, or describes him with an epithet that shows contempt and belittles his person, such as a human being who has worth and respect, or says to him, for example, “You “Thief,” absolutely, without specifying a position or reason.

Al-Sharif pointed out that the crimes of insult and defamation have moved from the ground to modern means and new technology, and it has become easy for anyone to insult or slander another, while he is remotely, through various social media.

He pointed out that the Rumors and Electronic Crimes Law, in Article (43), criminalizes such behavior, specifying a penalty of imprisonment and a fine of not less than 250 thousand dirhams and not more than 500 thousand dirhams, or one of these two penalties, for anyone who insults others, or Assign an incident to him that would make him subject to punishment or contempt by others, using an information network, an information technology means, or an information system.

He drew attention to the observation that the legislator is more stringent in cybercrimes than is the case in ordinary reality, and this purpose is to reduce the laxity that occurs between users, and to regulate this human relationship between them, which is widespread behind the walls of technology.

In the second paragraph of this article, it was decided that if one of the acts mentioned in the first paragraph of this article occurs against a public employee or person assigned to a public service on the occasion of or because of the performance of his work, this is considered an aggravating circumstance for the crime.