TV director allegedly threatened to defame woman with fabricated porn

A TV director has denied threatening to defame a woman on social media platforms with a fabricated porn clip, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

Prosecutors told the court that in May this year, Dubai police received an email from the French plaintiff filing a report against the 43-year-old Lebanese defendant.

The woman, whose age was not disclosed in records, said she met the accused three years ago and they became friends. Records did not mention where the two met.

The woman said the accused tried to convince her to move to Dubai and that, when they met, he took pictures of her with his phone. He also obtained her Facebook account password and began threatening to use the images to fabricate a porn clip and post it on her account.

"She said the defendant logged into her Facebook account and repeatedly posted pictures of her and her husband with comments saying that the couple were fraudsters, and that the husband offers his wife to the men who pay most," said an Emirati police lieutenant, 27.

In her email, the woman alleged that the defendant's posts and comments caused her marital problems that resulted in divorce.

She added that the accused sent her WhatsApp messages demanding she pay him €20,000 (Dh86,560) to stop sabotaging her image. She attached a screenshot of the WhatsApp chat to her email.

Police located the accused on August 16 this year and asked him to visit the criminal investigations department. 

During police questioning, the man allegedly admitted to sending threats to the French woman, but said that he had asked her to pay him back the amount he had spent on her during a visit.

In court yesterday, he denied charges of issuing threats, blackmail, abusing telecommunications and assaulting another's privacy.

His lawyer told the court that the women dropped the charges against his client and provided judges with an official letter in this regard.

A verdict will be issued on January 30.