United Arab Emirates
Journalists released on bailPosted Oct 20 2007
Two Dubai journalists were released on bail on Sept. 25 after being sentenced to two-months in prison for libel. They are appealing the conviction. The journalists are former editor of the English-language paper Khaleej Times Shimba Kassiril Ganjadahran, and reporter Mohsen Rashed.
Two days prior to the arrest, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum “issued instructions … not to imprison journalists for reasons related to their work,” said the head of the National Media Council, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in a report by Agence France-Presse.
AFP reported that Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad said “other measures can be taken to penalize a journalist who has committed a particular violation,” and that he is seeking to speed the ratification of an amendment that dismisses imprisonment as a penalty for press offences.
Ganjadahran and Rashed, were accused of libeling an Iranian- born Dubai woman by reporting on 28 June last year that she had sued her husband, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The case will continue on Oct. 25.