What freedom of speech?

What freedom of speech?

While the new law prohibits the UAE’s courts from imprisoning journalists for doing their jobs, it allows imposing of hefty fines for “publishing information that damages the country’s reputation.”

January 21, 2009 3:48 by Aarti Nagraj

Criticize the royal family in the UAE media, and you could pay a fine of up to AED1 million. Publish information that damages the country’s reputation or harms its economy, and you could pay another hefty fine between AED50,000 and AED1 million. That’s what the new media law, which has been approved by the Federal National Council, states. It now needs to be cleared from the Cabinet and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE.

It also gives the National Media Council the authority to ban books and publications it believes violate the law.

The draft law, however, prohibits journalists from being jailed for doing their jobs. It echoes a law passed in Dubai by its ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in 2008. His decree was instigated by a Dubai court ruling giving two journalists’ jail terms for defaming an Iranian woman. The reporters were later freed.

The UAE is not known for its press freedom; The World Press Freedom Index 2008 released by the international body Reporters Without Borders, ranks the UAE 69th out of a total of 173 countries. We doubt the new law will improve the country’s ranking in 2009.

Saqr Ghobash, the Minister of Labor and NMC chairman told The National that separate laws would govern the media free zones, which means that international and local press offices based within them will be exempt from this law.

Why should there be a separate law for those outside of free zones? Isn’t it also necessary to allow all media operating either inside or outside free zones freedom speech?

Furthermore, won’t the new law lead to further self-censorship by the media? And with the financial crisis finding new targets everyday, will writing about it amount to “harming the country’s economy”?

Tags: criticism, fine, freedom of speech, journalists, new law, newspapers, prison, UAE media

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3 Comments

Kipp reader on January 22, 2009 6:33 am

Listen to the first hour:

http://jamescast.podomatic.com/entry/2009-01-21T20_25_31-08_00
Iftikhar Izhar ul Haq on January 24, 2009 9:57 am

Democracy is the keyword; transparency is synonymous with democracy which sadly does not exist in this region. Anyway, we do not need the local biased fawning press to educate us about the current frail economy; isnâ€™t it as evident as the sun??? After all, only chiropterans dread the glorious sunlight… The job market will bleed profusely as long as Dubai’s (and the U.A.E) ailing economy relies on the financial services sector that is rife with rampant corruption, nepotism and discrimination, as long as it offers frivolous tourism (to relish resplendent authentic Middle Eastern history, traditions, culture, palaces, etc, discerning tourists always prefer Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Jordan and Morocco), and as long as its real estate sector is rife with ensnaring ambiguity and all building material is shoddy, as long as the property price, and other charges, fees, fines are ridiculously exorbitantâ€¦ Indeed, we cannot afford to be too emotional and obsessed with any place or anyone or anything; it is high time to be more realistic and explore other GCC countries, Australia, New Zealand, South Asia, etc, because not all nations and cities will be affected in the same manner.
Jason on February 3, 2009 9:20 am

It’s so sad how Emiratis are complacent with their situation. They don’t see modernity in terms of social welfare, such as freedom to express yourself or having a voice in what goes on in your country. They think that being modern means having money and designer goods. In fact, many Emiratis think that they are among the most developed countries in the world because GDP per capita is high and because the UAE PR guys say it’s one of the most modern countries in the world. They can’t see how this culture of wasta/nepotism/favoritism, corruption, and blind obedience to incompetent, greedy leaders will come back to bite them in the ass.