Filming Messi’s passport takes UAE police officer to court

DUBAI: A police officer in the United Arab Emirates has appeared in court over filming himself holding Barcelona star Lionel Messi's passport.

Abu Dhabi's state-run The National newspaper reported on Tuesday that the police officer appeared in Dubai's Court of Misdemeanors over the posting the video to the mobile phone app Snapchat in December.

The newspaper said the video included the caption: “Shall I burn the passport or just put it back!”

The police officer, identified as J.M., faces a charge of violating Messi's privacy. He said he made the video in jest and had the permission of Messi's bodyguard.

The forward was in Dubai to receive the Player of the Year award at the Globe Soccer Awards. Messi also is a global ambassador for the coming Expo 2020 in Dubai.

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Comments (3) Closed

stranger

Jan 20, 2016 09:24am

If I was the judge, I will set the police officer free but with a caution to keep his personal passions aside from his work.

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Muhammad iqbal

Jan 20, 2016 01:54pm

There was nothing wrong. Messi is so popular in football hungry emirates, and the police officer just displayed his emotions like a fan in stadium.

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Tanweer Khan

Jan 20, 2016 02:59pm

@Muhammad iqbal I am guessing that there must be various security issues that are breached here. If it was just him holding the passport then fine, but if he has filmed private stuff like Messi's passport number and/or his national identity number, then it could compromise Messi's safety and security. Imagine if taht kind of information became available to an organised crime gang - they coold potentially use that to divert Messi's assets from his bank a/c etc. So if Messi's privacy has been breached, then it is very serious - and the officer should have known about that beforehand. Furthermore, as part of his training, he would have been taught this too - and would have agreed to comply.

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