26-year-old man fined Dhs500,000 for blasphemy

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

An unemployed man who returned to his former workplace yelling obscenities following which he cursed God was on Monday slapped with a Dhs500,000 fine.

The 26-year-old Arab defendant was hauled into the Criminal Court on Sept.9 for having blasphemed God while inside a Dubai Company on July 23. Witnesses reported him to the Rashidiyah Police Station.

Prosecutors demanded a stringent penalty. During court questioning, the defendant denied the charge and contended as he shook his head, “I swear in the name of God I never blasphemed. I am a devout Muslim.

“In the name of God I can’t utter such a statement,” he expressed referring to the offensive statement stated in prosecution records. The jury convicted, fined and caged him for three months plus deportation.

In police and prosecution records, an Egyptian labourer narrated that he, his Syrian colleague and a Pakistani driver were inside the company when the defendant barged in. He demanded to know where the boss was.

Upon realising that the boss was not around, he asked those around to contact him and tell him to come. “My colleague told him the boss was not around. He pelted him with insults targeting his and the boss’s sisters.

“My colleague tried to persuade him to calm but he instead insulted God,” said the labourer. On his part, the colleague complained, “I told him the boss was busy and wouldn’t come. He uttered insults against me and him.”

The colleague unveiled the insults that involved his sister and the boss’s sister. “When I asked him for calm he cursed God,” explained the colleague, adding that the labourer and the driver witnessed the incident.

In a similar earlier incident, an Arab businessman, 39, who cursed God during a financial dispute with an investor was fined Dhs500,000 and sent to spend three months behind bars to be followed by deportation.

He had struck a business deal with the Emirati investor, 42. The deal ended fruitless. He started demanding the investor to refund. The rift worsened. He sent him messages containing threats and blasphemous words.