DUBAI (AFP) — A decree by the ruler of the United Arab Emirates has saved two journalists from jail, the official WAM news agency reported Thursday.
The journalists from English language daily Khaleej Times were acquitted by an appeal court after being sentenced to two months in jail for libel.
The court ruling followed a decree by UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum that journalists should not be jailed for their work.
"The Dubai Court of Appeal ruled innocent the journalists Mohsen Rashed and Shimba Kassiril from the Khaleej Times newspaper," WAM said.
Sheikh Mohammad, who is also Dubai's prime minister, said in the decree that measures other than imposing jail sentences could be taken against journalists who had committed a particular violation, WAM said.
Rashed and Kassiril were sentenced by a court in the emirate of Dubai on September 23, the day before the decree was issued.
WAM said the two men were accused of defaming a woman in a June 2006 article written by Rashed and cleared for publication by Kassiril, then editor of the paper.
Newspaper reports at the time said this was only the second such case in Dubai, the location for scores of regional and international news organisations.
In 2004, a Dubai court handed down jail sentences of six months and three months respectively against a Kuwaiti editor and a Saudi editor, also for defamation.
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