His Highness Sheikh Mo (as the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is affectionately known) posted on Twitter earlier today that the United Arab Emirates has issued a new law against any form of discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, color or ethnic origin following a Decree by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) the new law, No.02 of 2015, criminalizes any
acts that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form
of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online
media. The law also includes provisions for punishing anyone for terming other
religious groups or individuals as infidels, or unbelievers.
The law is intended to provide a sound foundation for the environment
of tolerance, broad-mindedness and acceptance in the UAE and aims to safeguard
people regardless of their origin, beliefs or race, against acts that promote
religious hate and intolerance.
Penalties for violation of the various provisions of the law
include jail-terms of six months to over 10 years and fines from Dhs 50,000 to
Dhs 2 million.
The Anti-Discriminatory Law prohibits any act that would be
considered as insulting God, his prophets or apostles or holy books or houses
of worship or graveyards. It also has provisions to fight discrimination
against individuals or groups on the basis of religion, caste, doctrine, race,
color or ethnic origin.
The law condemns actions that would comprise hate speech or
the promotion of discrimination or violence against others using any form of
media, including online, print, radio or visual media.
Strict action will be taken against any form of expressions
of hatred or incitement to hate crimes spread in the form of speech and
published media.
The law also criminalizes any act that amounts to abuse of
religion or vandalism of religious rituals, holy sites or symbols, and takes a
serious view of violence on the basis of religious doctrines.
The law prohibits any entity or group established
specifically to provoke religious hatred and recommends stringent punishment
for groups or supporters of any organizations or individuals that are
associated with hate crimes. It also bars any kind of events such as
conferences and meetings within the UAE organized with the sole purpose of
sowing seeds of discrimination, discord or hatred against individuals or groups
on the basis of faith, origin or race. Receiving financial support for such
activities is also punishable under the new law.
The law encourages anyone involved in any activity that
violates the law to voluntarily submit themselves before the authorities and
has provisions allowing the courts to waive penalties in such cases.
The new law does not contradict with any other existing laws
meant to protect specially privileged groups in the society such as women,
children and individuals with disabilities or others.
The Anti-Discriminatory Law in full, as published in Gulf
News:
- Criminalizes any acts that stoke religious hatred
- Criminalizes any act that insults religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or online
- Punishes anyone for terming other religious groups or individuals as infidels, or unbelievers
- Provides a sound foundation for the environment of tolerance, broad-mindedness and acceptance in the UAE
- Aims to safeguard people regardless of their origin, beliefs or race, against acts that promote religious hate and intolerance
- Includes jail terms of six months to more than 10 years for those who break the law
- Includes fines of between Dh50,000 and Dh2 million for those who break the law
- Prohibits any act that would be considered as insulting God, His prophets or apostles or holy books or houses of worship or graveyards
- Makes it illegal to discriminate against individuals or groups on the basis of religion, caste, doctrine, race, color or ethnic origin
- Prohibits any entity or group established specifically to provoke religious hatred
- Recommends stringent punishments for groups or supporters of any organizations or individuals that are associated with hate crimes
- Prohibits any kind of events such as conferences and meetings within the UAE organized with the sole purpose of sowing seeds of discrimination, discord or hatred against individuals or groups on the basis of faith, origin or race
- Makes it illegal to receive financial support to fund activities that propagate hate
- Encourages anyone involved in any activity that violates the law to voluntarily submit themselves before the authorities
- Allows courts to waive penalties where people voluntarily submit themselves to authorities
- Dovetails with other existing laws to protect specially privileged groups such as women, children and individuals with disabilities or others
