Case Summary and Outcome

Abdullah Al-Hadidi is an Emirati activist who had covered human rights cases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prior to his arrest and charges on March 22, 2013. By April 8, 2013 he was sentenced to a year in prison.  The charges against him stemmed from his tweets about a sedition trial which he was covering.  Mr. Al-Hadid later lost his appeal on May 22, 2013 and served a 10-month sentence of imprisonment as a result.

Facts

At the time of his arrest, Mr. Al-Hadid had been covering a high-profile freedom of speech case in the Emirati courts which dealt with sedition charges. The case was widely publicized as “UAE’s 94” because the trail included 94 defendants accused of conspiring to overthrow the government. Since one of the defendants was Mr. Al-Hadid’s father, Mr. Al-Hadid had been both reporting on the case and helping the defense gather evidence to support his father’s case.

Mr. Al-Hadid was one of very few members of the public who were allowed to attend the hearings for the “UAE’s 94” case. After the hearings were over, Mr. Al-Hadid took to Twitter to express his dismay of both the outcome and the process as a whole.  His comments also included detailed descriptions of the proceedings as well as criticisms of placing his ailing father in solitary confinement.

Upon his arrest, Al-Hadidi faced several charges under the UAE’s Penal Law, Abu Dhabi Penal Law, and theUAE’s Cyber-Crime Law. After being sentenced in trial and subsequently losing his appeal, Mr. Al-Hadid served a sentence of 10-months in the UAE prisons.

Decision Overview

Following a brief trial, Al-Hadidi was sentenced to 10 months in prison.  The primary charge against Mr. Al-Hadidi was his violation of two articles of the Cyber-Crime Law, which was mandated in 2012, a few months prior to Al-Hadidi’s arrest.  It is not clear how the Court reached the 10-months sentence, or whether some charges were dropped in the process, but the charges filed in the case were the following:

1. Violation of the Cyber-Crime Law No. 5 of 2012: This law is generally repressive to online freedom of expression. For example, its Articles 28 and 29 impose fines up to $300,000 and “temporary” imprisonment on any one who “uses the internet to undermine national security or public order in any way, including through online comments and cartoons.” Additionally, Article 46 of the law considers using the internet in commission of any violation of UAE law an aggravating circumstance.

2. Violation of Article 265 of the UAE Penal Law: This Article imposes up to a year term of imprisonment for those who “with malicious intent, spread false news about the proceedings of a public trial or hearing.”

It is likely that Al-Hadidi was convicted of both of the above crimes.  It is not clear how the prosecution proved the elements of “malicious intent” or “falsity of news.”  What is clear, however, is that the UAE judges, on both trial and appellate levels, determined that the news was false and that Mr. Al-Hadid had “malicious intent” without giving much explanation.