MAY THIS SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL OF YOU
DUBAI -- An Emirati man charged with defamation on an Internet site was sent back to jail on Thursday, one week after a court in the United Arab Emirates released him on bail, sources close to the case said.
The sources told Agence France-Presse that Khaled al-Asli, who denies being the author of an online article allegedly slandering a local official in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and posted under a pen name, was put again behind bars after a court hearing.
He had been freed on bail on August 23.
The owner of the popular website, Mohammad Rashed al-Shehhi, is appealing a one-year jail sentence passed earlier in August also on defamation charges. He was ordered to pay the equivalent of 19,000 dollars in fines and compensation to another local official who sued his website.
The next hearing at the appeal court in Ras al-Khaimah, one of seven emirates making up the UAE, is set for September 9.
Shehhi's defence lawyer, Abdullah Omran, told AFP on Thursday that in addition to the trial which ended with the one-year jail sentence, Shehhi is also on trial in connection with the defamation suit filed against Asli.
He said the court of first instance agreed during Thursday's hearing to his request to merge the suits related to the latter case and scheduled the next hearing for September 2.
Shehhi will also be questioned by the prosecution the next day in relation to a third complaint against his website, majan.net, which has been closed by court order.
The detention of the two men has raised concern among rights activists. One Arab human rights group said last week it dealt "a harsh blow to freedom of expression" in a country which took the lead in spreading Internet usage.
Scores of regional and international news organizations operate out of Dubai, another UAE member which hosts Internet and media free zones, but mainstream local media in the oil-rich Gulf country are mostly government-guided.
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=85662
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