A cry against the legislative void: When defamation becomes a mere "violation" without deterrence.
Honor is not a matter that accepts compensation, and reputation is not a common property to be violated on the altar of absurdity and slander. However, the legislative system currently in force remains tied, with its deficient clauses and utilitarian loopholes, in the face of a sweeping torrent of false reporting crimes and the spread of fake news. These crimes have become a lethal weapon that tears families apart, destroys financial and social standing, and creates a state of moral fluidity and societal disorder, without finding any criminal deterrent other than timid penalties that neither nourish nor satisfy hunger.
The fundamental flaw almost screams from the texts of the current Penal Code:
* Symbolic custodial sentences: The crime of false reporting is treated according to Article (305) of the Penal Code as a simple misdemeanor, often ending in a suspended sentence or meager financial fines that do not commensurate with the scale of the total destruction inflicted upon the victim and their family.
* Lack of deterrence in the social media space: The provisions of the Anti-Cybercrime Law No. 175 of 2018 and the Penal Code are applied with highly complex evidentiary requirements, making impunity the norm and accountability the exception.
* Presumption of specific criminal intent: Jurisprudence and the judiciary impose complex conditions to prove "intent to harm" in false reporting, which opens a wide door for the slanderer to claim good faith or haste, to evade punishment easily.
This procedural and legislative void has led to a glaring duality in the firm application of judgments:
* Inevitable selectivity: Firm and deterrent criminal judgments are only seen in cases highlighted by media attention or those of a political and sovereign nature, while the simple citizen is left facing rumors and false accusations, helpless without a text to do them justice or a judiciary to exact retribution in a timely manner.
* Inadequacy of civil compensation: Civil damages awarded—if found after years of exhausting litigation—come in fragile, symbolic amounts that do not compensate for a single drop of blood shed from the reputation of an honorable person or the dignity of a family wasted on social media pages.
Society can no longer tolerate this legislative laxity; a law that does not protect reputation and does not deter the slanderer is a law that encourages chaos and invites the spread of lies. What is required today is not just minor amendments or procedural painkillers, but a comprehensive legislative revolution that reformulates these crimes:
1. Increasing the penalty: Transforming crimes of false reporting associated with public abuse and defamation from fragile misdemeanors into felonies, with perpetrators punished by rigorous imprisonment.
2. Introducing direct liability: Imposing deterrent penalties and immediate confiscation of accounts and platforms that engage in defamation and the spread of misinformation, without resorting to the excuse of the perpetrator's anonymity once intent is proven.
3. Punitive Damages: Establishing the principle of punitive damages in civil and criminal law to show the teeth of the law to anyone who dares to violate people's honor.
Legislation is not a blind text; it is the guardian of justice, national security, and societal security. If the legislator does not wake up to put an end to this legislative farce, society will remain a large theater for reputation destroyers, and the honorable will remain the first victims in a forest of absurdity and slander.
