Qatar's Ministry of Justice Organizes Educational Legal Workshops For School Members on Cybercrime, Its Risks

Doha, July 26 (QNA) - The Legal and Judicial Studies Center at the Ministry of Justice organized educational legal workshops on cybercrime, its nature, and risks for a number of school and academy members, Barazan girls forum, and the Qatar Scouts and Guides Association, within the educational and awareness programs that the center organizes in cooperation with competent authorities. Presented by head of legal awareness department at the Center of Legal and Judicial Studies Zainab Al Yafei, the workshops addressed bullying crimes, electronic hacking, and blackmail. It also reviewed new patterns of cybercrime that emerged as a result of the negative use of the Internet and social networking sites. The workshops underscored that the reasons behind the spread of these crimes due to the increase and diversity of social media programs, the vulnerable family control of parents over children, the lack of awareness of the dangers and cautions of committing electronic crimes, the belief of some people that it is difficult to detect them if they have committed electronic crime, and the large penetration of modern means of communication in the lives of families, especially mobile phones and modern electronic devices and the multiplicity of their services and uses that have eliminated the privacy barriers. During the workshops, the penalty for the crime of electronic blackmail in Qatari law was introduced, according to Article 9 of the Cybercrime Prevention Law, which stipulates that a sentence of not more than three years in prison and a fine of not more than QR 100,000, or either of these penalties, shall be imposed on any person who uses an information network or information technology technique to threaten or blackmail another person to have him/her do or refrain from doing a certain action. The workshops also reviewed the phenomenon of bullying in its various forms in the street, school, university, home, and even in the workplace. Forms of bullying were introduced, such as slander, defamation, beating, and threatening, which were defined by the Qatari Penal Code No. 11 of 2004 and stipulated that the bully shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not more than three years, and a fine not more than QR 10,000, or either of these penalties, while the penalty shall be imprisonment for a period not more than five years if a death threat was made. The workshops discussed the penalty for electronic hacking in Qatari law, whereby a person who manages through an Information Network or any information technology technique to have unlawful access to a website or an information system belonging to a state authority, body or entity or any affiliated corporation shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years and a fine of not more than QR 500,000. The workshops emphasized the importance of preventing exposure to electronic blackmail by avoiding accepting friendships or friendship requests from unknown parties, not responding to any conversation received from unknown parties as well, and avoiding sharing sensitive information, photos, or videos on the Internet. The workshops indicated that the procedures followed in the event of exposure to cybercrime are by proving the crime and the incident by keeping the evidence (photo - witness - video) and informing the competent authorities represented by the Cybercrime Combating Center in the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Interior. The workshops included live presentations of issues related to cybercrime to educate the public about the dangers of these crimes and their various legal dimensions. (QNA)