Dubai: The New York-based Human Rights Watch, urged President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan not to endorse the proposed Law of Media Activities and called for a second reading of the law.

Samer Muscati, Researcher of the Middle East and North Africa Division at the US-based organisation and the author of the 13-page report praised the government for its efforts to upgrade the 1980 law concerning press activities in the country and expanding it to handle changes that took place in field of media.

He urged the government not to lose the opportunity of setting up an example for other countries in the region regarding freedom of press.

"Human Rights Watch concerns regarding this law that it might encourage self censorship by journalist and reporters and give the government too much power to interfere in media institutions, imposing hefty fines of up to Dh5 million for disparaging a government official is just a tool to deter media institutions from playing their role in pin-pointing wrong practices and discuss policies set by the government," he said.

Samer called on the government to "define the restrictions specified by the proposed law and identify them instead of their vague and broad implications that leave them open for various considerations".

Based on its current form, Samer said the law will muzzle the press, preventing honest reporting. Adding that, vague clauses and harsh fines will almost guarantee arbitrariness by government authorities and self-censorship by the media.

He admitted that the proposed law contains no criminal penalties which he described as a positive point, but the fact that it referred to the UAE Penal Code for the punishment of a number of media law offences, means that the punishment of imprisonment is still there and it would be up to the government to implement it or not.

"The law should have stated in clear words that journalists are not to be subjected to imprisonment for what they write and fines to be paid for violations of its clauses must be reasonable and not meant to bankrupt media outlets," he said.

Furthermore, Samer said, licensing of media organisation has become very difficult according to the proposed law and provisions governing media licensing do not clearly articulate the standards the government will apply in approving or denying applications for media institutions.

"This vagueness in the law grants the government unfettered power to determine who may or may not publish information in the UAE. It also gives the government power to suspend the licences of newspapers, radio stations, and television channels for insignificant infractions of the law," he said.

He said the law also gives the government authority to regulate who can work as an editor, reporter, correspondent, or producer in the country.

"This authority is susceptible to abuse and infringes on the freedom of expression by preventing media outlets from organising, managing, and operating free from governmental interference," he said.

Abdul Rahim Sabir, Project Leader for the Civilian Protection Initiative, Middle East and North African Division in the Human Rights Watch told Gulf News he praised the ban against imprisonment of journalists enforced by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai in 2007, and said the UAE should build upon this improvement and specify it clearly in the law.