The Abu Dhabi Misdemeanor Court resumed its hearing today, 16 cases of defamation and slander through social media, held by the religious preacher, Wasim Yusef, against citizens and residents, and the court decided to postpone the case to the next February 5 session to review and take decisions in the defense and defendant's defense requests.
The session witnessed the consideration of the case by a new court panel, and new lawyers volunteered to defend the accused, bringing the number of the current defense team to 24, while the victim’s defense, Advocate Mudhah Al-Manhali, asked the court to reserve cases for the ruling, while preventing publication of the cases.
Attorney Ibrahim Al-Tamimi was empowered to speak on behalf of the Defendants ’Defense Authority, who submitted to the court’s body 5 requests that included all cases in one case, due to the unity of the matter, as well as one plea for the defense of all defendants, one in all cases, and permission for new lawyers joined The Defense Authority for Defendants accused of photographing case files, permitting the presentation of new evidence consisting of an electronic memory (flash) and attaching them to the case files that include pictures and video clips of the complainant, explaining that it is the main reason for the defendants' response to the complainant within the framework of freedom of opinion, while allowing them to be presented to the court, and summoned The victim has to discuss and confront it with evidence and videos, in addition to a formal payment to the agency granted to the victim's defense as it does not include opening reports to the police or the prosecution, and is limited to representation before the court only, while deferring the defense until the submission of evidence and the processing of requests.
After the defendants accused of rejecting the petition against publication, pointing out that the case is a public opinion issue, especially that the complainant has a media platform through which he can speak and say whatever he wants, which makes him vulnerable to criticism from the public.
It is worth noting that the previous session witnessed 21 lawyers volunteering to defend the defendants, and the court decided to postpone the case for pleading, while three cases were reserved for judgment in next Sunday's session for the defendants not attending.
Religious preacher Waseem Yusef was attacked on social media months ago because of his talk about "Sahih Al-Bukhari." Yusuf said in a tweet last June on his official page on Twitter, that 163 Twitter accounts will be referred to the Public Prosecution, indicating that he worked On collecting tweets issued by these accounts.
He continued, saying: "I have endured a lot, but they have unfortunately continued. They practiced the most severe bullying, bad manners and insults. For this," I swear to God, I will not give up my right ... and the judiciary is among us. "