Woman sentenced to 16 months for being raped

[Valigarmander]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23381448

A Norwegian woman has spoken out about the 16-month prison sentence she received in Dubai after reporting a rape incident to police.

Interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv was on a business trip in Dubai when she says she was raped.

The 24-year-old reported the March attack to the police but found herself charged with having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury.

Convicted earlier this week, she says she is appealing against the verdict.

The appeal hearing is scheduled for early September.

Describing the sentence as "very harsh", she told the AFP news agency: "I am very nervous and tense. But I hope for the best and I take one day at a time. I just have to get through this."

The case has angered rights groups and the authorities in Norway.

Ms Dalelv says she had been on a night out with colleagues on 6 March when the rape took place.

She reported it to the police, who proceeded to confiscate her passport and seize her money. She was charged four days later on three counts, including having sex outside marriage.

Dubai's cosmopolitan atmosphere belie deeply conservative roots

Her alleged attacker, she said, received a 13-month sentence for extra-marital sex and alcohol consumption.

The Norwegian government had secured Ms Dalelv's conditional release so, since being charged, she has been living under the protection of the Norwegian Seamans' Centre in Dubai.

But she told Norway's NRK News that following her sentencing on Tuesday she was now officially wanted by the Dubai authorities.

"I should have been imprisoned since Tuesday," she said. "But I have been told they are not searching for me."

The sentence has been condemned by Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who is quoted as saying that it "flies in the face of our notion of justice" and was "highly problematic from a human rights perspective".

The Norwegian authorities are reportedly trying to contact the authorities in Dubai about the situation.

The London-based Emirates Centre for Human Rights called on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to which Dubai belongs, to quash Ms Dalelv's conviction.

It said the UAE's claims that it is attempting to end discrimination against women was undermined by a legal system that "prohibits the achievement of justice for cases of sexual violence against women".

Currently, the law stipulates that, to gain a rape conviction, there must either be a confession or for four adult male witnesses to the crime.

Dubai has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years, emerging as a five-star trade and tourism destination with its tax-free salaries and year-round sunshine.

It is now one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities with foreign workers and visitors greatly outnumbering the local population.

But it remains a deeply conservative region, and its strict laws have caught out foreigners in the past.

An Australian woman, Alicia Gali, was jailed for eight months in 2008 for having extra-marital sex after complaining to the police that she had been drugged and raped by three co-workers.

Public displays of affection and drunkenness are also frowned upon.

A British couple, Ayman Najafi and Charlotte Adams, were jailed for a month in 2010 after they shared what Mr Najafi described as an "innocuous peck on the cheek" in a restaurant. A witness said they had kissed on the mouth.

Another British couple, Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer, were jailed for three months in 2008 for having sex on a public beach - an allegation they denied.

[Shiranu]

Don't get me wrong, this sucks... but you should know going into Dubai that the law isn't going to protect you. It's like going to Mexico and being surprised when the cops arrest you for reporting a drug cartel's activity (though props to Dubai; I doubt she will end up dead 2 days later).

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Just saw this on BBC website.  Words fail me.  On the outside Dubai looks quite progressive, on the inside it's stuck in the dark ages...  :(

Mind you, in some other countries they'd have stoned her to death by now....

[viocjit]

The problem for her is the next. She need four witnesses to prove that she was raped. The Islamic law system ask that to women who were raped therefore she can't prove it.

[Solitary]

Un fucking believable in this day and age this can even happen. Sharia Law should be condemned and eradicated from the face of the earth as soon as possible. Only religion can make laws this incoherent and barbaric. Islam makes Christianity look reasonable and enlighten in comparison.  :roll:      Solitary

[Colanth]

Islam makes Christianity look reasonable and enlighten

Or at least held in check by secular governments.  Christianity, up until about 500 years ago, was no better than Islam is today.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Ah, what a relief: Progressive Islam - in other areas they would've bashed her head in with rocks for being a filthy whore.

What's next for progressive Islam? A 3 strikes rule when it comes to cutting the hands and feet off of thieves? Allowing women to show their wrists? Hell, maybe they'll allow queers a 30 second head start before they chase them down and brutally murder them! Wouldn't that be something!?

[Brian37]

Dubai's national motto, "Prevent rape, just say yes".

[Nonsensei]

Read world-middle-east in the URL and didn't need to read any further.

[Cocoa Beware]

All I can say is that this story really, really pisses me off.

Many people cite the extremists as the main problem of Islam, but imo the individuals who are responsible for the existence of these laws are a more significant problem.

[NeoLogic26]

Why the fuck would anyone go near that shithole? The entire Middle East is plagued with Islam and no amount of money can fix that. Oh, you have the tallest building in the world? Fucking great, go shove it up your ass! I'm sick of hearing people getting bullied by these fascists for having a marijuana seed in their shoe or some such shit. Fuck morality police.

[Brian37]

Islam makes Christianity look reasonable and enlighten

Or at least held in check by secular governments.  Christianity, up until about 500 years ago, was no better than Islam is today.

Huh? No Christianity was barbaric even in the colonies before the founder's "Age of Reason". Witch Hunts anyone? Oh and even after the seeds of secularism the states still had slavery and sexism that took hundreds of years to get away from. And right now we still have religious assaults on women's rights and minorities rights waged through government by our right wing.

Religion will not cease to be a weapon and I agree, the best you can do is keep it in check. But when people point at Islam while rightfully doing so, forget the war to prevent a Christian theocracy from arising again, is still an ongoing battle.

Monopolies of power, be they religious, political, or business, are always a threat to pluralism and democracy.

[WitchSabrina]

I can't even..............   I've got no words.

[Jack89]

Don't get me wrong, this sucks... but you should know going into Dubai that the law isn't going to protect you. It's like going to Mexico and being surprised when the cops arrest you for reporting a drug cartel's activity (though props to Dubai; I doubt she will end up dead 2 days later).

I was thinking the same thing.  This young lady's situation is tragic and I hope she can get out of country as soon as possible, but to expect western style justice in the middle east is naive.

[aitm]

We had some friends living there just a couple years ago and they wanted badly for us to move there. I did some minor research and found that Dubai is built and is still being built by slaves. Pakistani's and Indians come there, have their passport confiscated and charged a ridiculous amount to get it back, so much that they spend years earning a pittance to just get their passport back so they can leave.

I get real agitated at organizations like the PGA that have large tournaments there considering this.