Abu Dhabi: The new media draft law is "a significant step forward for press freedom and other civil liberties in the UAE," a senior official said on Saturday.

Ebrahim Al Abed, the Director-General of the National Media Council that oversees the UAE media, said the new law protects journalists from being sent to jail for carrying out their duties and instead imposes fines.

"Even these fines are determined by courts, whose rulings can be appealed," he told Gulf News.

Scores of civil society leaders have appealed to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to stop the new media draft law, which was passed by the Federal National Council on January 20.

The comments came ahead of the launch of the Regional Ethical Journalism Initiative on Sunday.

The two-day event, organised by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in collaboration with the UAE Journalists Association, will see top journalists, experts and media personalities from the region discuss ethics in the media and related issues.