3 Filipinos face blasphemy charges in UAE--report

DUBAI--Three Filipino workers who allegedly tore a page of the Muslim holy book the Koran and scribbled on it are being investigated on charges of blasphemy, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Their employer lodged a complaint with police in the conservative emirate of Sharjah based on a statement by a colleague, the English-language daily The National quoted an official at the Philippines consulate as saying.

The employee said he saw his three colleagues commit the act deemed to be blasphemous in the United Arab Emirates, the paper said.

The three men and seven other workers had been involved in a labour dispute with their employer, which had been resolved by terminating their work permits ahead of their deportation, the consulate official told the newspaper.

Six employees had already been repatriated. But two of the jailed men were arrested when they tried to leave for Manila on March 29, unaware of the complaint which was lodged on March 17, the paper said.

The third was taken into custody when he left his country's consulate, the official said.

The three have not been formally charged.

In 2006 an Abu Dhabi Islamic court sentenced a Filipina housemaid to a month in prison, followed by deportation, after her employer saw her sitting on a copy of the Koran.

She said she had not seen the holy book which had been covered by a blanket, the paper said. - Agence France-Presse, inquirer.net, April 20, 2008