On July 27th 2017, according to official state media, Dubai banned Arabian Business for one month over report on dozens of failed real-estate projects deleted from website and apology posted.
According to Arabian Business reported, “The UAE has banned a Dubai-based popular website and magazine for publishing a report on failed real-estate projects – “false news”.
On Wednesday, a news was released about liquification of estate projects. In the report, it is stated, “The media office of Dubai publishes for a month that the print and online editions of Arabian Business would be barred from publishing, which weathered a property slump as part of the global financial crisis in 2009.”
One of the authorities reported, “The magazine committed violations of the rules and regulations of Dubai Creative Clusters Authority (DCCA) by publishing false news that was based on inaccurate information.”
Later the published online article was soon deleted and an online apology has been posted on Friday.
Despite of that it was said that the piece was an “oversight” and related to projects dating from 2010 that are “now outdated”.
However, the article had already been picked up by other publications, angering UAE authorities and state-linked media.
The Dubai media office tweeted on Saturday, “It ruled out a report published by Arabian Business and copied by Qatari media about the projects.”
Even though, AP news agency stated, “UAE authorities have warned that showing sympathy for Qatar online is punishable under the country’s sweeping cybercrime legislation, which criminalizes a broad range of online activity and allows for long prison sentences and hefty fines.”
Reporter: Syeda Faiza Bukhari
