The high-profile case against an Indian man who was arrested by the police for uploading online a video of a senior Emirati official assaulting another Indian has been dropped, officials announced today.
The cases against a government official accused of assaulting a van driver and the 22-year-old Indian who videoed the incident have been dropped, Dubai's Attorney General was quoted by 7Days newspaper as saying.
Essam Eissa Al Humaidan, head of Dubai Public Prosecution, said the two men, an Indian expat and an Emirati, will be released after the complaints against them were withdrawn.
The Emirati suspect, who works as a manager at a government department, was arrested after footage of a road rage incident was posted on YouTube.
The Indian was later arrested after the Emirati's family complained that the expat had acted illegally by filming people in a public place without their permission. They also said the video footage defamed their relative.
The men have been in custody for more than 10 days.
The footage showed a man in traditional dress hitting a delivery driver with his fists and his agal.
However, Al Humaidan said the alleged victim has waived his rights, as had the family of the Emirati suspect.
This means that both the case against the Emirati and the man who filmed the incident have been closed, he said.
The public prosecutor's office said that under Article (20) of the Federal Criminal Procedures Code, they could not proceed with charges against the road rage suspect if the victim waived his rights.
"We charged the official with assault and the Indian YouTube man was charged with publishing the video on the internet to defame the official, and both were under custody. The case was dismissed as the van driver waived his rights against the Emirati official," Al Humaidan said.
"The official's family waived their rights too, and it's enough punishment for the person who took the footage to have been arrested and kept in custody," he said.
