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qatarperegrineInsulting email, SMS can land you in prison
Web posted at: 1/31/2010 6:53:32
Source ::: THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Giving vent to your anger through email or SMS can land you in jail, so better exercise restraint and switch off your mobile and laptop immediately if you are upset with someone.
At least two persons, both of them expatriates, have paid a huge price for sending abusive SMS and email to people they were angry with.
Both the cases went to court and while one walked away being fined QR1,000, the other case is still being heard. According to lawyers, it is obviously easy for a recipient of a hate or abusive or defamatory mail or SMS to make a case as the written word is the proof. Qatari laws have incorporated provisions to punish insulting SMS and emails and punishment can be jail up to three years or fine up to QR10,000 or both for insulting someone in public.
Abusive private SMS and emails, on the other hand, can attract jail terms up to three months and or fine up to QR1,000.
I've lived in Qatar 5.5 years, and I had no idea there was an actual law against insulting people.
Qatar has certainly advocated a middle road when it comes to freedom of speech -- a balance between freedom and responsibility. The Constitution, for example, assures "freedom of expression ... according to the conditions and circumstances to be stipulated by the law," which I find an interesting approach, since I always thought the point of protecting rights in a Constitution was so they couldn't be eroded by statutory law.
However, unless "insult" is somehow a tragic mistranslation of "threaten with imminent bodily harm," it's hard to imagine how such a law could ever be reconciled with any level of freedom of speech.
This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-02 09:00 pm (UTC)As I have stated before, I feel as if I am in Oz and have seen the man behind the curtain.
Salaam,
Lisa
Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 01:34 pm (UTC)The problems only arise when you get to locally relevant issues, such as "what is science" or "how should religion impact domestic policy" or "does the exit visa make workers' lives worse".
In short, as long as you research stuff Qataris don't care about, they don't care what you say. But this was obvious anyway.
-dpp
Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 01:53 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 01:55 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 01:58 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 02:00 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 02:02 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-03 06:14 pm (UTC)If you don't understand how this can have any bearing on Academic Freedom then I would suggest you don't really understand what Academic Freedom is and perhaps not free speech....
Salaam,
Lisa
Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-04 12:15 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-04 12:16 pm (UTC)Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-04 06:12 pm (UTC)My original response was concerning the position taken by the Qatar Foundation in order to attract the Americans universities that have contracted to come here and teach. The laws governing speech are not consistent with Academic Freedom. I feel certain none of these universities even bothered to thoroughly research the status of the law and what bearing that would have on faculty being able to teach to the best of their abilities. In other words, what I was highlighting was the fact that after 10+ years here it is now evident that the law as it stands is no doubt in conflict with the notion of Academic Freedom that the majority of Education City faculty hold. I fail to see why that obscures or clouds the issue of free speech at all. It is merely one layer of it.
As for being "snide", I beg to differ. I was responding to what you wrote and calling it as I saw it. You wrote: "How does that have to do with the classroom at all? That's just a general observation about speech not being free." We SPEAK in the classroom and often about controversial subjects (or ones considered sacrosanct by someone). If there is no reasonable right to speak freely in public, then there can be none in the classroom. When I was recruited to come here I was told that free speech in the classroom wouldn't be an issue. Apparently, that is not necessarily true.
Salaam,
Lisa
Salaam,
Lisa
Re: This certainly doesn't seem consistent with
Date: 2010-02-17 04:14 pm (UTC)