DUBAI • A woman was fined and ordered to be deported from the United Arab Emirates for breaching her husband's privacy by checking his cellphone to see if he was cheating on her, Gulf News reported yesterday.

The unnamed Arab expatriate was fined 150,000 dirhams (S$56,000) by the criminal court in the emirate of Ajman, the English-language newspaper said.

Her lawyer told the paper that she had accused her husband of having an affair, and she admitted that she accessed his phone without his permission and transferred photos to her device, the lawyer added.

The husband lodged a complaint with the court, which convicted her on Thursday last week under a cybercrime law that penalises the invasion of privacy of another person using information technology, the paper said.

According to UAE law, a person "shall be punished by imprisonment of a period of at least six months and a fine not less than 150,000 dirhams, and not in excess of 500,000 dirhams, or either of these two penalties, whoever uses a computer network and/or electronic information system or any information technology means for the invasion of privacy of another person, in other than the cases allowed by the law..."

The Gulf News said the couple were in their 30s but gave no other information.

REUTERS