|
 The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal has banned Arabic daily Emarat Al-Youm from publishing for 20 days and fined editor-in-chief Sami Al-Riyami and AMG chief exec Abdul Latif Al-Sayegh Dhs20,000 each for libel, according to a report in Al Ittihad.
The court handed down its ruling on Tuesday, and the ban will take effect from Thursday. Emarat Al-Youm was still on newsstands today, and a quick flick through revealed no mention of the case or its imminent suspension (although we could have missed it).
The libel in question saw Emarat Al-Youm allege in October 2006 that UAE-based Warsan Stables was using amphetamines to boost the performance of its horses. Warsan Stables brought the suit in January 2007, but the case has only been concluded now. Emarat Al-Youm can still appeal to the Federal Appeals Court.
UAE defamation law is famously baroque, and has in the past been applied in what – to Western eyes, anyway – can seem to be an eccentric fashion.
The case last year where two Dubai journos were jailed
for libelling a woman who, allegedly, tried to cash a cheque that bounced, proved a watershed for defamation laws when Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum decreed that journalists would not be jailed in the course of doing their jobs, at least after this case.
Strikingly, in the 2007 case, it came to light that the defence of truth – ie, that the person named actually did what they are accused of – is not always a valid one in UAE courts.
At the time of publication no-one from AMG could be reached for comment.
UPDATE: ArabianBusiness.com has got through to AMG, which is apparently rather surprised to hear of this verdict.
“Neither myself, Emarat Al-Youm nor our lawyers have received anything in writing,” said AMG CEO Abdul Latif Al-Sayegh to the website.
He added that the first he or AMG had heard of the verdict was the Al-Ittihad story, and “we do not know exactly whether it is true”.
AB.com quoted Al-Sayegh as saying Emarat Al-Youm would be on newsstands as normal on Thursday, unless AMG heard otherwise.
More as we hear it.
|
