Man banned from Twitter, fined for defaming imam

abu dhabi — A Netizen, who was among those accused of insulting renowned Muslim preacher Waseem Youssef, was found guilty of defamation. The Abu Dhabi Misdemeanour Court ordered him to pay the complainant Dh30,000 and a fine of Dh20,000.

Convicted in absentia, he will also be banned from using Twitter for three months.

The verdict was among four decisions recently issued for the case. Two trials were dismissed on grounds that the court didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear them, while the defendant in the third trial was cleared of charges.

Youssef, a well-known TV personality in the UAE and a former imam at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, took 19 people to court, accusing them of insulting and slandering him on Twitter.

He said he had been bullied since June 2019.

In previous hearings, the Abu Dhabi Misdeamenour Court judge divided the trial of 16 of the defendants into three different sessions and were scheduled for hearing on separate dates.

The alleged insults followed the comments Youssef made about Sahih Al Bukhari, one of the six major collections of sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which was compiled by Imam Mohammad Al Bukhari.

After noticing the criticisms, some of which he considered “insulting”, Youssef filed a lawsuit against the social media users under the online law.

The preacher is also facing charges of spreading hatred and racist statements on social media.

During the latest hearing at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court on Tuesday, prosecutors said he published information to promote programmes and ideas that spread hatred and racism in society and harm national unity and social peace. Youssef denied all these charges.