An Emirati national was sentenced to ten years in prison for badmouthing political leaders on social media.
United Arab Emirates citizen Ahmad Abdullah Al Wahdi got a decade behind bars for running a social media account poking fun at various government officials. In addition to locking Al Wadhi up, the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi shut down the account and confiscated documents related to the trash-talking.
This is far from the first time someone has landed in jail over their politically dissident Twitter activity, but it’s a stark reminder of how some regimes can hand out over-the-top sentences for what amounts to a Jimmy Kimmel bit in the US.
[Gulf News via Glenn Greenwald]
Image of President Obama shaking hands with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, via AP
Contact the author at kate.knibbs@gizmodo.com.
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