Following arguments between the wife and her husband’s family, the Dubai Court of Appeal reversed a first-instance court decision that found an Arab man guilty of insulting his brother’s wife and called her a scorpion on WhatsApp due to insufficient evidence.
In a criminal complaint, the wife accused her brother-in-law of using the WhatsApp app’s “status” feature to publish derogatory and obscene remarks, such as “How beautiful life is without my brother’s wife,” and “How beautiful homes are without scorpions.
The plaintiff felt that it directly insulted and disrespected her, damaging her reputation and sense of dignity. The suspect appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal, arguing that there were no elements of the crime because the circulating photographs could be fabricated or altered. The court of first instance fined the suspect Dhs5,000, confiscated the phone used, and ordered the removal of the disputed phrases.
According to the electronic forensic analysis, no recorded material or digital messages containing the disputed phrases were found, and the photographs in question were uploaded via a status function that automatically deletes after 24 hours, making it impossible to verify their status.
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