10 years jail term, upto Dhs500,000 fine for blackmailing someone in UAE

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE Public Prosecution clarified, through a tweet published on its accounts on social networking sites, the penalty for the crime of electronic extortion.

The Public Prosecution indicated that according to Article 16 of Federal Decree-Law No. 5 of 2012 regarding combating information technology crimes and its amendments, a penalty of imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years and a fine of no less than Dhs250,000 and not more than Dhs500,000, or either of these two penalties for blackmail or threaten another person to get him to do or abstain from doing an act using a computer network or an information technology means.

The penalty shall be imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years if the threat is to commit a felony or to impute matters offending honour or dignity.

The dissemination of this information comes within the framework of the UAE Public Prosecution's ongoing campaign to enhance the legal culture among members of society, and raise the level of public awareness of the law, with the aim of spreading the culture of law as a way of life.