Justice Department hosts seminar to educate young people about dangers of electronic extortion

The Legal Awareness Unit of the Legal and Judicial Research Center of the Ministry of Justice, within the framework of the Ministry’s cooperation with the Youth Center, held a legal workshop at the Jamiliya Youth Center on the dangers of electronic extortion crimes to cultivate and spread legal awareness, consolidate the concept of legal education, and provide knowledge, skills and legal values ​​to the members of the Center in accordance with the program developed by me.
The seminar, led by Mr. Abdul Rahman Ali Malhia, Director of the Legal Awareness Department of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, discussed the crime of electronic extortion and the risks it poses to people in accordance with the law. It reviewed the dangers of electronic extortion, its motives, the stages of how to avoid falling into this crime, and the penalties for this crime.
The lecturer introduced the concept of electronic blackmail to the members of the Centre, which is the use of threats and intimidation through the publication of picture or film material or the disclosure of confidential information about the victim, with the aim of obtaining money or exploiting the victim to commit illegal acts such as the disclosure of confidential information about the employer or other illegal acts.
The seminar explained the steps of the blackmailers, stressed the need to not communicate with them and report such incidents directly to the competent authorities represented by the Anti-Cyber ​​Crime Center of the Criminal Investigation Department.
It also highlights the penalties for perpetrators of extortion crimes, as Qatari lawmakers, through Article 9 of Law No. (14) of 2014, have increased penalties for extortion crimes, as these crimes endanger public order and security. The Anti-Cyber ​​Crime Law and Article 325 of the Penal Code No. 11 of 2004 state that “Whoever threatens or extorts another person by means of an information network or information technology shall be punished with a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand riyals, or either of these two penalties, in order to force him to do or not do something.” The laws behind these provisions are aimed at protecting and maintaining the security of society.