Leading UAE newspaper's website hacked

HACKING VICTIM: The website of Al Khaleej (pictured) has been hacked by Iranian activists.

Iranian activists on Tuesday evening hacked the website of a leading UAE-based Arabic language newspaper in a protest over the name of the waterway between the Islamic republic and the GCC.

The group, called the 'Mafia Hacking Team’, posted a map with the message "The correct name is Persian Gulf" written across the top on the homepage of Al Khaleej, the newspaper said.

A second picture was also posted on the site, which included the name of the hacker and his email address.

The incident comes just weeks after dozens of Iranians rallied outside the UAE embassy in Tehran to demand the waterway be called the Persian, and not the Arabian, Gulf.

The name of the key oil shipping route is a bone of contention between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and its predominantly Sunni Arab neighbours.

Iran and the UAE are also embroiled in a territorial dispute over the sovereignty of three islands in the waterway.

Iran insists on calling the water along its southern coast the Persian Gulf. The body of water also touches Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, and many people in these states refer to the waters as the Arabian Gulf.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Better call it the Horn of the Gulf..neithe here or there
Posted by kaptain, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 4 June 2008 at 12:57 UAE time


Better call it the horn of the Gulf and the bone of contention is not here.
There are many issues other than this..why fight over non-issues which carry no economic weightage.
Now matter what name it gets; the oil that crosses that place would still be oil with the same price. Isn't it?

Why not ...
Posted by CS, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Monday 2 June 2008 at 19:57 UAE time


I suspect not many people REALLY care. Why not just call one side the Persian Gulf and the other side the Arabian Gulf. That's pretty easy... Haven't we all got bigger and more serious problems to worry about in the region? Time to grow up and move on...

Legally it is Persian Gulf.
Posted by Jason, UK on Sunday 1 June 2008 at 11:37 UAE time


In my opinion the Persian Gulf will remain just that officially, now what does the arab world want to call it just shows that they are ignoring the facts and rest of the world and particularly their regional history, and they are after creating tension with Iran.

Who cares?!?!?!
Posted by Sam on Wednesday 28 May 2008 at 14:44 UAE time


Iran is under sanctions and fighting practically every other country around the World and every one of its citizens who managed to flee there and is unaware of the economical woes that will create, and the Arab countries are engrossed with racking up the money from the expats before squeezing them out of here, again unaware of the economical woes that will create. It's still a gulf that will be there for the next million years and no one will "own it" based on its name.

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