Brits warned after Dubai police admits monitoring private WhatsApp chats
Future visitors to Dubai need to be extra vigilant when it comes to their social media activity.
It's reported by PYOK that a British flight attendant on the FlyDubai staff was arrested in the United Arab Emirates over sharing a video of a drone strike at Dubai International Airport in a private WhatsApp conversation.
There was nothing malicious behind their post; they were simply seeking advice as to whether it was safe to travel to the airport that day.
Little did they know, it seems, that the local authorities had been busy warning citizens, expats, and tourists that they faced incarceration and financial penalties if they shared or spread any images of Iranian assaults.
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This particular incident captured a drone exploding right beside Terminal 3 of the airport, where the major airline Emirates bases itself.
Despite Dubai police's lack of public detailing, it's been alleged that an Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo and an Airbus A321 jet (owned by Saudia Airlines) were badly damaged on site.
Five years ago, Dubai launched strict cybercrime laws, making it illegal for anybody to share images online that endangered national security, the country's reputation, or 'undermined national security'.
Fortunately for this British flight attendant, charity 'Detained in Dubai' and the UK government stepped in after hearing about their plight, and got them released from prison.
Yet one Emirates worker hasn't been so lucky and remains in the notorious Al Qusais Police Station in East Dubai.
The crew member was recently arrested for uploading a photo of rising from smoke, fresh from another Iranian drone strike in the city, into one of his WhatsApp group chats. At the time, he was in his Emirates-provided accommodation when the building vibrated. He then proceeded to snap a picture of the bomb smoke.
Detained in Dubai founder Radha Stirling claimed the local authorities used 'electronic monitoring operations' to sniff out this supposed perpetrator.
What makes this situation even worse is the fact it happened before police issued their harsh warning to residents and visitors about missile attacks.
Having used electro-surveillance to discover that a banned image had been doing the rounds via WhatsApp, Dubai police apparently deployed a special squad from the Electronic and Cybercrime Department to conduct an investigation and hunt down the account's owner.
Once they'd managed to successfully do so, the authorities 'lured' him to the police station and slapped cuffs on him. He remains in custody.
Topics: Dubai, Social Media, Technology, WhatsApp, UK News, Travel
Dan Seddon