Jail for publishing pictures of women: UAE Interior Ministry

Abu Dhabi: People who photograph women at weddings and other events and publicise them without prior approval could be fined or jailed, according to the UAE Interior Ministry.

While women may agree to be photographed at public events but this does not mean that they want their pictures to go online, said Milan Sharaf, a researcher at the office of the Deputy Premier and Interior Minister.

“Those who take photographs of women at weddings and private parties and publicise them without their approval will be jailed or fined,” she said.

“This is a violation of women’s privacy…they may agree to be photographed at such events but that does not mean they accept their pictures to be publicised,” she told the Ministry’s monthly magazine “999”.

She said people having those pictures in their mobile phones and they show them to others could also be prosecuted as this is an offence as well.