DOHA: In arguably a first in Qatar, a court has found three expatriates guilty of using defamatory language on Facebook against the principal and management of a Filipino school.
The misdemeanour court has sentenced the trio — parents of students in the school — who said they were protesting an unjustifiable increase in the school fee, to five months in prison and a fine of QR1,000 each.
The sentence has, however, been kept in suspension, which means it will be executed if the convicts fail to abide by the law for a certain period.
The court has referred the matter to the civil court, where the convicts may be sued by the school for damages for defamation, local Arabic daily Al Raya reported yesterday.
Asked for comment, a lawyer said that under Qatar’s criminal law, which has a special chapter on cybercrime, no one was allowed to insult individuals and other entities personally or on social media.
However, the law-enforcement agencies must probe accusations regarding defamation and confirm them by filing charges against the accused, said Yusuf Al Zaman.
The trio, according to him, was convicted under Qatar’s anti-defamation law.
Initially, five expatriates, understandably all of them parents, were taken to court for using objectionable language against the school’s principal and its director and board members, but the court acquitted two of them.
The parents, according to the daily, said that they were taken aback when the school unjustifiably raised the tuition fee for the second time in less than a year.
They said they met the principal and were assured that the matter would be looked into and justice would be done. Nevertheless, the school management went ahead with the fee hike.
The parents said they then took to the social media and gave vent to their pent-up feelings. The school’s lawyer, Noura Srahan, told the daily the court’s verdict against the trio represented action against the misuse of social media.
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