News / Persian Gulf / Society

Gang raped British woman tells of terrifying ordeal in Dubai

Saturday, 19 November 2016 3:59 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 19 November 2016 5:31 PM ]

This file photo shows a view of Dubai skyline, the United Arab Emirates.

A young British woman has spoken out about her “nightmare” ordeal in the United Arab Emirates after she reported being gang raped but police arrested and charged her with “extramarital sex” instead.

The 25-year-old woman, whose identify has not been released under the rape shield law, traveled to Dubai on holiday last month and had planned to go on to Australia.

The victim was, however, attacked by two British men, who allegedly took it in turns to rape her while filming the assault at a hotel in the city.

When she reported the crime at a Dubai police station, the Briton was arrested and charged with sexual relations outside marriage.

The rape victim was later released on bail. She is now staying with a British family in Dubai, but she cannot leave the UAE as her passport has been confiscated.

An unnamed spokesperson for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office told The Independent that the department has been notified of the case, and it is offering assistance to the woman and her relatives.

Meanwhile, Britain-based campaign group Detained in Dubai, which is working to help victims of injustice in the UAE, has advised British tourists and other nationals in Dubai and across the Persian Gulf country against reporting incidents of rape there at all.

“There’s so much manipulation when it comes to criminal accusations over there,” the group said.

The British woman’s case comes three years after Emirati officials sentenced a Norwegian rape victim, identified as Marte Deborah Dalelv, to 16 months in prison.

The woman was able to leave the UAE, only after Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said she was free to travel.

In 2008, Australian Alicia Gali spent eight months in jail after UAE officials charged her with sex outside of marriage. The verdict was issued irrespective of the fact that the woman had broken ribs and evidence of violence from being raped.

Extramarital sex is punishable by imprisonment, deportation, floggings and even stoning in the UAE.

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