Social media victim abused by Indian expat in UAE bares all

Dubai - My respect for the UAE government has gone several notches up, given how the matter was dealt with, she said.

Indian journalist Rana Ayyub has expressed her gratitude for the UAE after a man who harassed her on social media was fired by a UAE firm, and has had his visa revoked.

In a phone interview with Khaleej Times, Ayyub said that the man in question would message her "every now and then" on her personal Facebook account.

During the time Ayyub's book Gujarat Files was published last year, for example, he messaged her "Go back to Pakistan!", she recalled.

As she is "constantly trolled" on social media, she ignored the message, she said. But after a particularly vulgar and sexually charged message sent on December 3, 2016, she decided to post a screenshot to her over 100,000 Facebook and Twitter followers.

He deactivated his Facebook account soon after the screenshot was posted, she says.

According to Ayyub, some of her UAE-based social media followers decided to do a background check, and attempted to question him.

When he responded that his account had been deleted, Ayyub's supporters went to the HR department of the company - Alpha Paints in Dubai, a sister company of Sharjah National Paints - who asked him to re-activate his account.

Once forced to do so, they spotted a number of other hateful and inappropriate messages that he had sent.

Shortly afterwards, the firm terminated him, and his visa was revoked.

Ayyub said she planned to file an FIR (First Information Report) in New Delhi on Tuesday, on the grounds of 'outraging a woman's modesty'.

"My respect for the UAE government has gone several notches up, given how the matter was dealt with," she told Khaleej Times.

• Dubai
• India