Question:
What are the punishments for spying on an individual regardless of the relation?
Answer:
Privacy rights for individuals are very highly respected and protected in the UAE. Violation of privacy of individuals can invite both jail term and penalties in the UAE. Eavesdropping, recording conversations without the knowledge of the person, installing tracking devices on the phone, installing tracking devices on a vehicle are acts that can be punished for privacy violation if they are committed without the consent and knowledge of the other person whose privacy is being breached. The Federal law no. 3 of 1987 promulgating the penal code (‘UAE Penal Code’) condemns such violations as criminal actions and penalties of both fines and imprisonment can be imposed.
Article 378 of the UAE Penal Code (as amended by Federal Law no. 34 dated 24/12/2005) states the provisions concerning privacy protection in the UAE, as:
Article 378
Shall be subject to a jail sentence and to a fine, whoever violates the private or familial life of individuals, by perpetrating one of the following acts, unless authorized by law, or without the victim’s consent:
a. If he lends his ear, records or transmits, through an apparatus of any kind, conversations that took place in a private place or through the telephone or any other apparatus.
b. Captures or transmits, through any kind of apparatus, the picture of a person in a private place.
Should the acts, referred to in the two-preceding paragraph, be perpetrated during a meeting in front of the attending persons, their consent shall be presumed.
Shall be sentenced to the same penalty, whoever publishes through any means of publicity, news or pictures or comments related to the secrecy of private or familial life of the individuals, even if correct.
Shall be subject to a jail sentence for a period not exceeding seven years and to a fine, the public servant who perpetrates one of the acts mentioned in the present article on the strength of the authority of his position.
The apparatuses and other objects that may have been used in perpetrating the crime shall, in all cases, be confiscated, and order shall be given to erase all relative recordings and destroy same.
In addition, it should be noted that the court provides privacy protection even within the structure of a family. For example, it would be illegal in the UAE for a husband to spy on his wife and vice versa. Recent court judgment has imposed the sentence of jail term for three months and a fine of Aed 10,000/- for secretly installing tracking devices in the car of his wife without her knowledge and consent. Similarly, in another judgment, a sentence of fine of Aed 5400/- was imposed against a woman for breaching the privacy of her husband by spying on his mobile phone without his knowledge and consent. Similar sentences can be imposed for bugging cars, tapping phones or putting someone under surveillance without their consent. All these actions are a breach of privacy pursuant to the UAE laws.
