(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The UAE has outlawed religious or racial discrimination, the state news agency WAM said yesterday, citing a decree by President H H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The law aims in part to counter Islamist militancy, particularly the practice known as takfir, whereby hardline Muslims label followers of other schools of Islam unbelievers, but it also outlaws insults against religions.
"The Law No. 02 of 2015 criminalises any acts that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or written word, books, pamphlets or via online media," WAM said.
Offenders risk up to 10 years in prison or the death penalty if convicted of "takfirism" or Sunni extremism, according to the text of the decree distributed by WAM.
It has declared Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation - the Brotherhood denies any involvement in militant violence - and taken part in US-led air strikes on Islamic State insurgents in Syria. The UAE is concerned about efforts by Sunni jihadists to stoke sectarian tensions in the Gulf with recent blasts at Shia mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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