Ask Elhais

Question:

My friend received an anonymous email about her husband cheating. Can we file a case to know who is the sender?

Answer:

The wife has the right to file a criminal case against the husband for the offence of adultery as per Article 356 of UAE Federal Law No. 3 of 1987, referred to as the Penal Code, if she has proof that he has been having a physical relationship with another woman inside the UAE territory. If the wife is planning to proceed with criminal charges against her husband and his girlfriend you should provide any kind of evidence you have, including witnesses (testimony of two male witnesses and one female witness), photos, videos, emails/messages exchanged or a letter of admission.

In general, the criminal court has full discretionary powers to evaluate and determine whether or not the husband committed adultery based on the subjective evidence you produce. However, it needs to be noted that as per Article 121 of the Penal Code  if found guilty both of them will most likely be deported. It is important to note that the judge has discretionary powers to reduce jail sentence if they are found guilty. However, the judge does not have the power to remove deportation.

With respect to filing the case against the sender of the email  unfortunately, we are not able to advise  until we have further information on the content of the email.

Disclaimer:
The above information might not apply if both parties are non-muslim. Starting from the 1st of February 2023, UAE issued specific family law to be applied between non-muslim expat residents in case none of them wanted to apply his/her home country’s law in the UAE.
To know more information about this law, please feel free to click this link