Steward on trial for making cabin crew look like animals

He also posted photos of animals boarding planes

Legal and Court Correspondent

Asteward has been charged with misusing social media to defame Emirates airline by posting slanderous photos of animals boarding planes and images of air hostesses with animal faces.

Emirates airline was said to have discovered the images in which the national carrier was being reportedly disparaged and mocked on the Facebook account of one of its staff in March.

The airline lodged a police complaint against the Pakistani steward for allegedly smearing Emirates airline’s reputation.

The Pakistani steward allegedly created a bogus profile on Facebook and posted photos of sheep, cows and other animals walking into and out of a plane. He was also reported to have posted photoshopped images of flight attendants with faces of animals.

Dubai Police’s Cybercrime Section carried out investigations that led to the arrest of the Pakistani steward from his residence. When questioned, he refuted the charges and contended that he adores his job and would never do anything to harm Emirates’ reputation or land himself in trouble. He alleged that a hacker could have created the bogus Facebook account.

Prosecutors accused the Pakistani suspect of misusing social media to deride his workplace.

When the suspect appeared before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court, he pleaded not guilty, saying the Facebook account did not belong to him.

A security official from the airline testified that they discovered that it was the suspect who had smeared the national carrier on Facebook from his work ID. “In one of the photos, he posted an image of an EK work ID. When we checked the bar code of that ID in our system, it turned out to be one of the staff’s [the suspect]. The Facebook account that had the slanderous images had his name,” the official claimed to prosecutors.

The suspect’s lawyer will review the case and present his defence when the court reconvenes in November.