Abu Dhabi: A court fined an Arabic newspaper's editor-in-chief Dh20,000 for maligning two dignitaries by publishing an article on how their horse was stripped of an award for taking a banned substance.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance acquitted the chief executive of the Dubai-based newspaper 'because he wasn't liable for the editorial content'.
The UAE national editor-in-chief and his compatriot chief executive were standing trial for 'intentionally publishing inaccurate and untrue information against the plaintiffs'.
"The chief executive of any media group isn't responsible for the editorial content. Besides, this lawsuit is a clear limitation of freedom of the press and such accusation confines the journalist to work within restrictions," said the defendants' lawyer Nasser Hashim, of Al Kamali Advocates and Legal Consultants. The plaintiffs' legal representative, of Rashid Bu Jsaim Advocates and Legal Consultants office, were also suing the defendants for publishing their pictures in a slanderous manner on the newspaper's front page.
Hashim earlier handed the court a copy of an international sport court's ruling which stripped the plaintiffs of the award.
Gulf News learnt that the defendant is planning to appeal the initial verdict today.
