Director sent to jail for blackmailing ex-lover

dubai — A TV channel director, who blackmailed a married woman and extorted money from her, has been sentenced to six months in jail to be followed by deportation.

The Court of First Instance earlier heard the 43-year-old Lebanese man took the Algerian woman’s break-up with him bitterly and hacked her Facebook account to alter her pictures inappropriately and post messages on her page to disgrace her among her family members and friends.

The court found the man guilty of charges of blackmail and extortion by threat of defamation, breach of privacy and harassment by telecommunication services.

The case was reported to Al Qusais police station. A police lieutenant said a woman based in France sent the Dubai Police a complaint by several e-mails in May 2017. “She said that a man living in the UAE was threatening her. She told us how she had met him about three years back and how he promised to help her get her a job. He took pictures of her with his mobile phone after they got close,” the officer said.

“Two years later, he started harassing and threatening her. He posted inappropriate comments next to the photos and other family pictures on her Facebook account.” Because of him, the complainant faced problems with her husband resulting in a divorce.

The defendant threatened he would keep posting such inappropriate messages about her until she would pay him €20,000 (Dh91,070). She sent the police a copy of the €200 she had transferred to the defendant.

When summoned on August 16, 2017 to the general directorate of criminal investigation, the suspect claimed he wanted to get back the money he had spent on the woman, which he put at €20,000. He confessed he had threatened to make a porn clip using her pictures. The court ruling has been appealed.

mary@khaleejtimes.com