SPREADING RUMOURS ON ‘APRIL FOOL’S DAY’ IN UAE CAN LAND YOU IN PRISON

Fri 02 April 2021:

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday announced up to one year in jail for those involved in spreading rumors or lies on April Fool’s Day.

The country’s Public Prosecution Office said in a statement cited by the official WAM news that spreading rumors that negatively affect society and harm public interests or playing pranks that spread negative spirit and disturb public security are punishable under the law with an imprisonment penalty for a period of no less than one year.

April Fools’ Day—celebrated on April 1 each year — involves playing hoaxes pranks, or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fool” at the end to clue in the subject of the prank.

However, it could land you in serious trouble in the UAE where spreading fake information and rumours is a crime punishable by law.

Origins of April Fools’ Day

According to history.com, some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582 etc, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.

People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.”

These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.