He had tried to flee the country

An electricity welder, sentenced to one year in jail on the charge of insulting Islam on social media, has lost his appeal in court.

The Court of First Instance convicted the 31-year-old Indian worker in May of disrespecting and insulting Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him) in posts he shared on Facebook.

Even though he deleted all the posts and details on his account, shortly later, copies of the messages were obtained and used as evidence by the public prosecution in the case against him.

The primary court then sentenced him to one year in prison and ordered him to pay a Dh500,000 fine - to be deported afterwards. He filed an appeal as he denied the charges on the grounds his account had been hacked but he lost the appeal after the court upheld the earlier ruling.

Public prosecution records show the defendant tried to flee the UAE shortly after posting the messages.

The complaint was filed on November 6 last year, at Al Rashidiyah police station by an Indian man who read the messages.

The accused was arrested two days later while trying to leave the country. His mobile phone from which he made the posts was also seized.

According to the General Directorate of Criminal Evidence, the defendant's Facebook account was used from his own mobile phone and no hacking was suspected. The last time he signed out was on November 7, last year.

The defendant may still challenge the appellate court verdict within 30 days.

mary@khaleejtimes.com