A man has been jailed for three years for insulting the UAE on social media, it has been reported.

The UAE’s Federal Supreme Court found Palestinian Mohammed Ashour, 38, guilty of creating a Facebook page that damaged the country’s reputation, according to a report in The National.

Ashour was also fined AED50,000 ($13,613) and the Facebook page was ordered to be taken down.

The defendant had pleaded guilty throughout his hearing in December and reportedly told the judge that the particular incident deemed defamatory had been a private interaction with another Facebook user.

Ashour’s lawyer argued that his client did not intend to damage the country’s reputation and had not spread the information publicly, the newspaper report said.

Ashour reportedly told the judge: “What happened was a conversation between two users. I never created a website. It was a personal online page on a social media network.”

Under the UAE’s 2012 Cybercrime Law No 5, all forms of electronic slander and abuse are illegal.

Ashour will be deported after serving his sentence, The National said.