A court in Doha has slapped a fine of QR10,000 on an Indian expatriate man who was found guilty of slandering two others through the social media.
The punishment was awarded under Article 84 of the Penal Code No.14 of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law of 2014. The law has provisions to punish violators to imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine of up to QR10,000 or one of the two penalties.
While delivering the judgment , the Misdemeanor Court held the accused guilty of posting adverse comments on the social media against two firms and their promoters, belonging to the group where he was an employee. The court also found the accused made the postings with the intention of tarnishing in the public the honour and dignity of the affected parties.
The court found the accused had made adverse observations on his Facebook page against the companies, warning people against its two promoters whom he named in his post.
In his post, the 35-year old accused alleged that the duo trafficked poor workers to the country promising them high salaries but cheated them by not fulfilling their promise.
The sentence was awarded in the absence of the accused, who failed to appear when the court first heard the case on May 15.
The plaintiff (the promoters) had filed the case arguing that the observations made by the accused on the social media had adversely affected the goodwill of both the companies and themselves.