How to File a Defamation Case in Dubai: Complaint, Claim and Evidence

The criminal route punishes the person who posted. For an online post, the offence is Article 43 of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes: using an information network to insult someone, or to attribute to them a quality that would make them subject to punishment or contempt, is punished with imprisonment and/or a fine of AED 250,000 to AED 500,000. Where the target is a public official or a person entrusted with a public service, during or because of their work, that is an aggravating circumstance.

Spoken and printed defamation fall under Articles 425 and 426 of the Crimes and Penalties Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021. The official English text calls Article 425 'libel' and Article 426 'slander', which is the reverse of everyday English: Article 425 covers attributing a specific incident to someone, and Article 426 covers an insult that names no incident. The penalties for each are set out in our guide to defamation in UAE law.

The civil route compensates you. Since 1 June 2026 the Civil Transactions Law is Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which replaced the 1985 law. Under its Article 254(1), harm to reputation is moral harm, and moral harm is compensable. The table shows each stage on both routes.

Posts can be edited, deleted or made private at any time, including as soon as the poster learns of a complaint. A capture made today is the evidence a case rests on later. Make it before you report the post to the platform, because a post the platform removes can no longer be captured.

RepuLex makes this record for clients as a dated, hashed capture of every URL, which a UAE lawyer or the police can use. The hash shows that a file has not changed since it was captured. The same record is what we use to report each post to its platform under the platform's own rules, so one piece of work serves both the legal case and the removal. Collect at least the following.

Article 11 of the Criminal Procedures Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022, lists 'insult and slander of people' among the offences that can be prosecuted only on a complaint by the victim, the victim's representative, or an attorney hired under a special power of attorney. The same article says the complaint shall not be admitted after three months following the date on which the victim becomes aware of the crime and its perpetrator, unless the law stipulates otherwise.

Our review of the official texts did not settle whether this complaint rule and three-month limit also govern the online offence in Article 43 of the Cybercrime Decree-Law, as well as the Penal Code articles. Article 11 speaks of insult and slander without naming a statute. Treat the three months as applying to an online post, and do not wait to find out.

Two further points follow from the text. The limit runs from knowing both the post and who made it, so if the account is anonymous, raise it with your lawyer at once rather than assume the clock has not started. And under Article 16 of the same law, the right to complain lapses if the victim dies, although a complaint already filed continues.

A company is a victim in its own right. It complains through its representative or an attorney with a special power of attorney, and Dubai Police lists the business sector among the users of its e-crime service.

Article 12 of the Criminal Procedures Law says the complaint shall be filed with the Public Prosecution or with a Judicial Police Officer. For a post made online, the Dubai Police e-crime service is the direct route.

Dubai Police describes the service as enabling the public to submit complaints related to electronic fraud and cybercrimes. It lists the fee as free and the completion time as instant, which describes the submission, not the investigation. Individuals, the business sector and government entities may use it. It runs on the Dubai Police app for iOS and Android, on the Dubai Police website and at Smart Police Stations, which are open around the clock. The listed contacts are the call centre on 901 and mail@dubaipolice.gov.ae. The old ecrime.ae address now forwards to the Dubai Police cybercrime page, which offers separate Tourist and Resident options, so use the Dubai Police page itself.

You may also go to the nearest police station, and in an emergency call 999. If you would rather not file in person, a UAE-licensed lawyer can act for you, as the next section explains. The full list of channels, including the federal ones, is in our guide on how to report cyber crime in the UAE.

From there the matter is in the hands of the police and the Public Prosecution. If a case is brought, it is heard in the onshore criminal courts of the emirate. In Dubai that means the Dubai Courts, an independent local judiciary with a Court of First Instance, a Court of Appeal and a Court of Cassation. The DIFC Courts do not hear criminal matters.

This comes from Article 6(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2022 Regulating the Legal Profession and Legal Consultation Profession. The first condition for entry on the Roll, under Article 13(1), is UAE nationality. Under Article 10, a non-national lawyer may be licensed only with at least 15 years' practice, as a partner of a licensed foreign law firm, and only before specialised circuits, excluding criminal, administrative and family proceedings and the personal status proceedings of Muslims. Article 80(1)(d) allows temporary permission for a lawyer of another state to plead in particular proceedings, case by case.

Two things follow. A criminal defamation case needs either you in person or a UAE-national advocate on the Roll. And a legal consultant, a firm's representative, a foreign lawyer or a reputation agency cannot plead for you or sign your statement of claim: Article 67 prohibits a firm's representative from pleading before the courts or the public prosecution, or from drawing up or signing submissions or statements of claim.

That is why RepuLex never files, complains or appears in the UAE. RepuLex is an online reputation management agency headquartered in New Delhi, not a law firm, and it holds no UAE licence. What it does is give your UAE lawyer a complete, dated evidence record and deal with the content on the platforms and in search, the work described on our page on reputation management in Dubai.

The claim rests on Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which replaced the 1985 Civil Transactions Law on 1 June 2026. Article 246 says every act causing harm to another obliges its perpetrator to compensate for the damage. Article 254(1) says liability includes moral harm, and that an infringement on another's freedom, honour, reputation, social standing or financial status is moral harm. Under Article 255, compensation is assessed on the loss suffered and the loss of profit.

The court is not limited to money. Under Article 256(2), at your request it may order the restoration of the previous position, or the performance of a specific act related to the harm, by way of compensation. As reported by Gulf News, the Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Claims, in a case over a Snapchat video, ordered an apology and a clear denial of the allegations on the same Snapchat account, together with AED 100,000 against AED 200,000 claimed.

The two routes run independently. Article 245(2) says civil liability does not prejudice criminal liability, and that the penalty has no effect on the scope of civil liability or the compensation. Article 253(2) lets the court reduce or refuse compensation if the injured party contributed to or aggravated the harm, which is one more reason not to reply in kind.

In four rulings reported by Gulf News and Gulf Today, courts in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi awarded between AED 20,000 and AED 100,000. Each award was below the amount claimed, and each followed a criminal conviction. They are news reports, not citable precedent, and none is a Dubai ruling. The courts and amounts are set out in our guide to defamation compensation in the UAE. One point is unsettled: which law governs a post made before 1 June 2026. That is a transitional question for your lawyer.

Article 68 applies to the online defamation offence in Article 43 and the privacy offence in Article 44, among others, and the settlement may be relied on before the Public Prosecution or the court. Under Article 17 of the Criminal Procedures Law, a withdrawal before a final judgment ends the action. If the complainant waives the complaint after a final judgment, the Public Prosecution orders a stay of execution of the penalty and releases the convict.

If your aim is the post gone and the record corrected, rather than a conviction, a settlement is the natural point to ask for both: removal of the post and of every copy the poster controls and, where it helps, a correction or apology on the same account. What you agree, and in what form, is for you and your UAE lawyer.

A poster deleting their own post does not clear the copies other people made, or what search engines still show. That is the removal work: each remaining copy is reported to its platform under its own rules, and search results go through Google's own removal routes. A platform, not RepuLex, decides each report.

Article 5(1) of the Civil Procedure Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022, makes Arabic the official language of the courts, and non-Arabic speakers are heard through a sworn interpreter. Under Article 5(2), the Federal Judicial Council or the head of a local judicial body may designate English for certain specialised tribunals or proceedings. Plan for Arabic: ask your lawyer early which documents, screenshots and messages need translating.

The DIFC Courts are a separate system, established under Dubai Law No. 12 of 2004 as amended by Dubai Law No. 16 of 2011. They hear cases arising out of the DIFC and its operations, and civil or commercial claims the parties agree in writing to bring there, and all hearings and documents are in English. They refer criminal matters to the external authorities, so a criminal defamation complaint never goes to the DIFC Courts. A civil claim could be heard there only if it falls within their jurisdiction.

Even then, proof is not allowed if more than five years have passed since the incident, or if the crime has lapsed or the judgment has been forfeited. Read with Article 431 of the Penal Code and Article 44(3) of the Cybercrime Decree-Law, a true statement about a private person or a company can still be an offence. The full position is in our guide on why truth is not a defence in the UAE.

Two kinds of statement are protected. Under Article 429, there is no crime in what litigants say in oral or written defence, within the limits of the right of defence, before courts or investigating authorities. Under Article 430, there is no crime where a person informs the judicial or administrative authorities in good faith of an act that makes its perpetrator legally liable. That is what protects a good-faith complaint to the police.