UAE Cybercrime Law, expression leads to imprisonment

The Center for the Advocacy of Emirates Detainees highlighted the recent amendments made by the UAE authorities that include more restrictions on the cybercrime law, describing the state as “freedom of expression whose ceiling is imprisonment.”

The UAE was one of the first Arab countries to issue a law on information technology crimes in 2006, but it later underwent a large number of amendments, as it was replaced by Federal Law No. 5 of 2012 on combating information technology crimes, and then it was amended in 2016 and 2018.

Recently, the authorities announced the approval of Federal Decree-Law No. (34) of 2021 regarding combating rumours and cybercrime to replace the previous Federal Law No. 5 of 2012 on combating information technology crimes. The new law entered into force on January 2.

As was expected, it brought more restrictions on freedom of expression in the Emirates and did not address the problems of previous laws but instead maintained the criminalization of acts protected under international law and introduced new crimes that did not exist in previous laws.

In its study, the Human Rights Center highlighted the role of the new cybercrime law and previous laws in restricting freedom of opinion and expression in the country and their apparent contradiction with international standards for freedom of expression.

Suppose we apply international standards for freedom of opinion and expression to the UAE cybercrime law. In that case, we will find that most of the provisions of these laws do not comply with legitimate restrictions on freedom of expression but rather go beyond them to impede dialogue, curb freedom of expression and restrict civil space.

The study confirmed that the adoption of cybercrime laws in the UAE did not respond to a societal problem that resulted from the spread of the Internet and the accompanying spread of cybercrime but came following the ruling elites’ desire to control new media and restrict freedoms.