DUBAI, 31 January 2008 — A row has broken out between Dubai police and local Arabic newspaper Al-Emarat Al-Youm after a senior police officer accused journalists at the newspaper of accepting bribes. In response the newspaper yesterday described the senior officer’s accusation as “intellectual terrorism.”
Brig. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim alleged at a press conference on Monday that Al-Emarat Al-Youm had published lies about the police. Tamim was referring to a newspaper column, which included several complaints from members of the public about how their 999 emergency calls went unanswered.
Tamim charged that Al-Emarat Al-Youm ran the article deliberately to ruin the police’s reputation, claming that the timing of publication, just before the announcing of the Dubai Government Excellence Awards, was deliberate. He also demanded that those who worked at the paper and accepted payments from third parties should have self-respect.
In response, Al-Emarat Al-Youm carried a front-page headline accusing the police chief of “intellectual terrorism,” quoting its editor Sami Al-Riyami.
The newspaper called for a Public Prosecution investigation so that its name could be cleared. The newspaper also called for the police to provide evidence to support their accusations.
The newspaper interviewed Head of the Journalist Association Mohammed Yusuf, who said that the police chief had reacted hastily and had blown the issue out of proportion. “I don’t think Dubai police will lose their chance of winning the excellence award because of the fact that they did not answer a few phone calls,” he said.
Yusuf said that this was not the first time that the police chief had reacted in such a manner. Describing the accusations as “serious,” he demanded the police chief provide evidence. “We at the Journalists’ Association do not accept corrupt journalists amongst us,” he said.
A prominent columnist with the Al-Bayan newspaper said that the police chief’s reaction was capricious. She questioned why the police chief had kept quiet about cases of corruption, as his job was to arrest such individuals.
