A phone pest faces deportation after bombarding a 28-year-old woman with indecent text messages – one of which she received while filing a complaint at a police station. The Egyptian man was further fined QR3,000 for the offence. A Doha court was told that the woman began receiving the unwanted messages after returning a missed call on her mobile. After the defendant apologised for calling her in error, he later sent an SMS to her mobile phone containing “obscenities”. He then continued to plague the woman with missed calls and indecent text messages. On July 6 last year, the woman finally lost patience and filed a complaint with the police. As she filled out the forms she received another message described as “exceptionally indecent”. With the assistance of Qtel, the police tracked down the owner of the phone – a 32-year-old man who arrived in Doha in May 2005. After being summoned to appear before criminal investigators, the Egyptian came reluctantly on the orders of his sponsor. He then denied having made the offending text messages, claiming his phone had been stolen four weeks earlier. The court dismissed the claim through lack of evidence as the defendant had not reported the alleged theft and the Egyptian was found guilty of contravening a Qatari law that forbids the use of words or deeds through electronic means to disturb others. The lawyer for the prosecution added that those who dared to send indecent text messages must be “exceptionally stupid” to do it from their own mobile phone. He said: “Even a small child nowadays knows that an ordinary phone conversation is possibly tapped and therefore the sender of such indecent messages is either exceptionally stupid or extremely adventurous – even in cases where the recipient is happy with them.” After being found guilty at a Court of First Instance, the Egyptian appealed. The original verdict was then upheld at the Appeal Court. However, because the hearing took place in absentia the defendant challenged the decision. The appeal is scheduled to be heard again in the near future. A legal source told Gulf Times that the man was simply attempting to prolong his stay in Qatar after realising he faces deportation. However, the lawyer for the defendant described his client’s ordeal as “unfortunate” saying that he had lost his source of income only because he had lost his mobile phone. He further urged anyone missing their mobile to contact the police – or possibly face legal consequences. GT

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