The UAE’s top court abolished a six-month jail sentence and deportation order by a lower court against a man convicted of violating the privacy of his wife.
The woman had filed a law suit accusing her husband of filming her without her knowledge and sending the film to her mother to reprimand her, the Arabic language daily Albayan said.
A court of first instance found the man guilty and sentenced him to six months in prison and ordered his deportation from the UAE.
A court of appeals abolished the deportation order but kept the jail sentence, prompting the husband to appeal with the Federal Supreme Court (FSC).
The paper said FSC scrapped the verdict on the grounds the man did not violate others’ privacy since the woman is his wife and he did not publish the film.
“What he did is not an offence as the act is not a violation of privacy of others… The UAE’s laws against IT crimes do not apply to him,” FSC said.
