Bodybuilder in UAE appeals Dh25,000 fine for ‘mocking the state’

ABU DHABI // A bodybuilder fined Dh25,000 for mocking the state after handing CID officers a packet of cigarettes instead of his ID card has claimed he merely made a mistake.

Syrian E M told the Appeals Court he was outside his brother’s mobile phone shop on Al Difa’a Street when a group of officers in plain clothes asked for his ID card.

“Even if you are a bodybuilder, when police ask you to show them your ID you should show it to them – they represent the authority of the state,” said Chief Justice Dr Khairi Al Kabbash, the head of the court.

“I did not know they were from the police,” the bodybuilder said.

He said he chatted and joked with one of the officers, who was “playing some music and playing with his BlackBerry. I even offered him juice”.

The bodybuilder then started smoking a cigarette, and the CID agent asked for his identity card.

“I asked him, ‘you want my ID?’. Then I put my hand inside my pocket and my cigarettes came out.”

He said he was then bundled into the police car.

“What was the agent wearing?” asked Dr Al Kabbash.

“He was wearing sports clothes,” the bodybuilder said. “I had no way of recognising he was from the police.”

He said the officers insisted he sign a confession stating he had refused to obey their orders and had mocked the authorities and the state.

“I refused to sign and they held me in custody at different police stations for four days,” the bodybuilder said.

At his original trial at the Misdemeanours Court, he was fined Dh25,000 and sentenced to jail pending an appeal.

The Appeals Court granted him bail and scheduled a verdict for November 13.

hdajani@thenational.ae