The Dubai Police have arrested the person who filmed a senior government official assaulting a van driver after a minor accident and uploaded the video which went viral on YouTube.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina said on Wednesday that the man was arrested after the son and other family members of the government employee involved in the incident lodged a complaint at the Qusais police station.

Maj-Gen Al Mazeina said that this person could have contacted the police and given them the video recording instead of publishing it.

He said that the Dubai Police were committed to taking legal action against people who commited mistakes or crimes.

Prosecution orders detention of assailant Marie Nammour DUBAI — The acting Attorney-General in Dubai, Youssef Hassan Al Mutaweh, ordered that the Emirati official, who was caught on a film that went viral on Youtube beating up an Asian driver, be put in provisional detention for investigation. The Deira prosecution questioned the official, who has not yet been named, as soon as they received the complaint from the police. “The physical assault accused was confronted with the video clip. The prosecution is also set to listen to the assault victim”. Al Mutaweh said that the law in the UAE applies to all, and everyone is equal before justice. “According to the UAE constitution, all foreigners enjoy all the rights and forms of freedom that are granted in the international treaties and conventions”. Asked whether the assault case against the official might be closed at the Prosecution or whether it would be referred to the court, a prosecution source told Khaleej Times that everything is possible. The source did not rule out the possibility that an amicable settlement could be worked out if the assault victim signs a waiver of his rights to pursue the case. The source pointed out that no criminal report has reached the prosecution as yet filed on the official’s part against the individual who filmed the incident and posted it on Youtube. “If there is any such criminal complaint it would still be with the police”. mary@khaleejtimes.com

The man who took the video confessed that he uploaded it on YouTube after he distributed the footage to a number of his friends.

Maj-Gen Al Mazeina commented that this type of footage might be exploited in a wrong way by certain authorities or people.

It is worthy to mention that a number of people, through various media forums, debated whether people have the right to photograph accidents or certain incidents which can bring wrongdoers to justice and used as evidence by authorities.

In this regard, Maj-Gen Al Mazeina said the police were examining whether there was a possibility of allowing people to photograph traffic accidents and sending the footage to the police using the 3G network.

He warned members of the public from publishing such footage on social networking sites or sharing it with friends and relatives as it would, more often than not, included the car number plates.

Under the UAE’s cybercrime laws, recording videos in public without the permission of those being filmed is illegal and constitutes defamation, so people should not involve themselves in this act in order to avoid legal action against them.

The assault was viewed by tens of thousands of people shortly after it was posted. It showed the official punching and hitting an Asian minivan driver with his Igal (head dress) following a minor accident in Al Muraqqabat area.

Maj-Gen Al Mazeina earlier said that both parties were summoned for questioning. He stressed that whatever the reason behind the incident, no one had the right to assault others or to take the law into their own hands and he should have rather resorted to the police.

news@khaleejtimes.com