By NewsGram Staff Writer

A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sentenced an Indian national to one year in jail for posting a "blasphemous and slanderous" status on social networking site Facebook, media reported.

The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 41-year-old man guilty of cursing Islam and the Prophet in his status update on Facebook after he watched a news bulletin about the Iraq war in July last year, Gulf News reported on Thursday.

Judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said the defendant would be deported after serving his jail term, according to the report.

The Indian was arrested after a fellow countryman lodged a police complaint that he received an image of the allegedly offensive Facebook status on WhatsApp.

The court ruling can be challenged in a higher court within 15 days.

(With inputs from IANS)