Gulf News has to pay more than £1m in libel suit

Whoops. Gulf News has lost a libel case in the UK courts.

According to The Times website today, the damages and costs are more than £1 million.

AN EDINBURGH property developer has been awarded more than £1m in damages and costs against a Dubai newspaper after it wrongly said that he had deceived Middle East investors.

Mark Emlick, chairman and founder of Dunedin Independent, one of Scotland’s largest privately-owned independent financial advice businesses, won his case against the Gulf News in the High Court in London this week.

He brought the case for defamation of character after Gulf News reported in April last year that he and a partner were being sought in Dubai and in the UK by investors who claimed he had absconded with their money after a property deal that involved his company Strategic Property Investment group (SPI) went sour.

Draft media law starts to bite

Despite claims from UAE Inc that the new law will not encroach on media freedom, it seems that there are already a number of cases where it has. Worryingly, these include the news wires, as reported in the Guardian, and verified by a couple of our wire sources in Dubai.

The article, which states that a Bloomberg journalist was detained at Dubai airport and warned to be careful, also confirms that the double whammy of the Panorama documentary and the Independent's article on Dubai have struck a nerve with the powers that be.

Have any of you noticed increased censorship, self- or otherwise? Or run-ins with local authorities over stories you have run?

Censorship? or more media freedom?

How do you feel about the new UAE media law? Do you feel it protects you and is a step away from censorship, or do you believe it increases your chances of being punished for ruining the country's reputation?

Jail is out (good news); fines are in for damaging the UAE's reputation or economy. Potentially, does this mean fines for any negative stories about the UAE? There has been plenty of coverage on the country's economy, as well as issues of transparency particularly in the real estate sector. A lot of this coverage in recent weeks has been negative. Will this change?

Dubai journos jailed

Happy Ramadan for two Dubai journalists.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/09/24/10155815.html

Two journalists sentenced to jail for libel
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Published: September 24, 2007, 00:25
Dubai: Two senior journalists have been jailed for two months each after they were found guilty in a libel case marking what judicial officials described as 'an unusual verdict'.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanour found the senior Egyptian journalist and senior Indian editor guilty of libelling an Iranian woman.

The Public Prosecution charged the two defendants with publishing a defamatory article in the English newspaper where they work. In her complaint the woman accused the defendants of defaming her after publishing the story.

The article said the woman collected a dowry cheque of Dh83,000 which bounced when she went to cash it. She thereafter filed a police complaint against her divorcee. The court found the defendants guilty though they pleaded innocent.

Gulf News has learnt that defence lawyer Samir Jaafar is planning to appeal the initial verdict today. The ruling is still subject to appeal.

A former judge who requested anonymity described the ruling as 'uncommon and unusual especially in the UAE'.