Accused hacker sues mideast Internet company for defamation

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500223473-500320289-501804020-0,00.html

Agence France-Presse

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (July 2, 2000 8:18 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The young Briton accused of hacking into
and sabotaging the Internet service Etisalat has filed a defamation
suit in Dubai against the state-run telecommunications company, his
lawyer said Sunday.

"We filed a case against Etisalat in Dubai's court of first instance
to compel it to hand over copies of records for the period it alleges
sabotage took place," Habib al-Mulla told AFP.

"Etisalat will appear in court on July 9 to offer its defense," Mulla
said, adding he would be allowed to pick experts to examine the data
and records of the telecommunications company.

Mulla's client, 21-year-old Lee Ashurst, has been accused of
"misusing" Etisalat's equipment and services, and faces a maximum six
months in jail or a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams ($2,725).

Ashurst, who was fired from his job as a computer network engineer
with a construction company after the allegations came to light,
retaliated by filing a defamation suit with police against Etisalat.

He has also created a Web site to garner moral and financial support
for his case.

Etisalat, the sole Internet service provider (ISP) in the Emirates,
has experienced major web disruptions over the past month.

The constant disruptions have proved an embarrassment at a time when
Dubai is building what it has billed as the world's first "Internet
City", a duty-free zone due for launch in October.


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