DUBAI: A police officer in the United Arab Emirates has appeared in court over filming himself holding Barcelona star Lionel Messi’s passport.
Abu Dhabi’s state-run The National newspaper reported on Tuesday that the police officer appeared in Dubai’s Court of Misdemeanors over the posting the video to the mobile phone app Snapchat in December.
The newspaper said the video included the caption: “Shall I burn the passport or just put it back!“
The police officer, identified as J.M., faces a charge of violating Messi’s privacy. He said he made the video in jest and had the permission of Messi’s bodyguard.
The forward was in Dubai to receive the Player of the Year award at the Globe Soccer Awards. Messi also is a global ambassador for the coming Expo 2020 in Dubai.
Separately, prosecutors in the country have filed an arrest warrant for two men who wore military uniforms and danced in an Internet video.
The state-run WAM news agency announced Tuesday that Abu Dhabi prosecutors had filed the warrant for the men.
It described the video as showing “two men donning military uniforms and making outrageous physical movements that did not respect the uniform, the morale and the value of national service.”
Emirati cop in court for filming Messi’s passport
Emirati cop in court for filming Messi’s passport
Red Cross transfers 8 Palestinians from Israeli detention to Gaza
- They were taken across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where they were reunited with their families
LONDON: The International Committee of the Red Cross transferred eight Palestinians from Israeli detention to the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The organization took them across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah and helped reunite them with their families.
The Red Cross has been unable to visit Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers since October 2023, as a result of which the fate and location of many detainees from Gaza were unknown, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The Red Cross said that according to the principles of international humanitarian law, detainees must be treated humanely, held in proper conditions and allowed to have contact with their families.
Israel is holding about 9,245 Palestinian prisoners in jails, including 358 held without charge or trial under administrative detention, according to Jerusalem-based rights group HaMoked.
