Is flag burning illegal in the United Arab Emirates?

Criminal offense

UAE punishes flag desecration with 10-25 years prison and fines up to 500,000 dirhams.

The United Arab Emirates is one of 53 countries classified “Criminal offense” for flag desecration — 79% of the 67 with data. (Also searched as flag burning.)

Source

Taken from
Wikipedia: Flag desecration
Last checked
7 July 2026
How it was classified
Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.

Nearby countries

Iran
Criminal offense Desecration of the Iranian national flag is a crime.
Saudi Arabia
Criminal offense Disrespecting the Saudi flag, considered blasphemy, is prohibited.
Azerbaijan
Criminal offense Flag desecration is illegal in Azerbaijan with imprisonment terms of up to 1 year.
Armenia
Criminal offense Flag desecration is illegal in Armenia with imprisonment terms of up to 1 year.
Israel
Criminal offense Deliberately burning an Israeli flag is illegal and punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
Uzbekistan
Criminal offense Desecration of the national flag is punishable by up to three years in prison under Uzbekistan's Criminal Code.

Other laws in United Arab Emirates

Blasphemy Laws
Criminal offense
Apostasy Laws
Death penalty possible
Holocaust Denial
No specific law
Conversion Therapy
No ban

Every law in the United Arab Emirates → · Where is burning the flag illegal? →

A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.