Dubai court acquits pets' saviour of libel charges

Dubai - The lawyers aid that the first court didn't allow him an opportunity to defend his client.

The Court of Appeal has revoked the verdict of Court of First Instance against a Canadian woman, who was earlier charged with libel for sending an email to the Dubai Municipality revealing how a lady (the complainant) in her villa was abusing her pets.
The Court of Appeal turned down the ruling after it found that the animals were actually in a deplorable condition and the Canadian's email reflected the truth of their plight, reports Arabic newspaper Emarat Al Youm.
Earlier, the Court of First Instance had slapped penalty on the Canadian and also imposed a fine of Dh50,000 on the animal rights organisation, which she represented and through which she had sent her email. It had also ruled that the accused be deported after paying the fine.
The complainant brought the lawsuit against the woman accusing her of using an unsavoury language, apart from calling the villa scary. She alleged that the woman had also raised questions on her morality. 
Attorney Mahmoud Azab, defence lawyer of the Canadian woman, said that the first court didn't allow him an opportunity to defend his client. He said the woman feels passionately about safeguarding animals' rights and her organisation monitors people who have pets in their houses.
The organisation also checks the quality of food the pets are offered and their living conditions too, said Azab, adding that the group is associated with the Dubai Municipality, especially its department dealing with complaints against animal abuse in the UAE.
He added that the neighbours around the complainant's villa had revealed that she had a lot of pets, mostly cats, and bad odour always emanated from the place. They also reported that many cats had died at her villa and she used to throw them into the garbage bin.
The defence said that the animal rights' organisation had submitted a request to the Court of Appeal to allow the defence lawyer to enter the villa to check out the condition of the animals. The court accepted the request.
Azab said that when he and his team visited the villa, they found a cat, three dogs and four turtles, which were being meted out a shabby treatment. They seemed to be hungry and her health seemed to be deteriorating.
The enforcement officer of Dubai Courts ordered to transfer all the animals to suitable places in the animal rights' organisation of the Canadian woman.
Azab said that the email had spelt out the pathetic condition of the animals, and it did not mean to offend the complainant personally. The first judgment took some parts of the email out of context, and pronounced its verdict.

• Dubai