A young Norwegian woman has been sentenced to 16 months in jail after she reported a rape in Dubai.
The 25-year-old was in the United Arab Emirates on a business trip when she was raped and reported the assault to the local police.
Dubai police did not believe her, and instead took her passport and jailed her on suspicion of having had sex outside marriage.
The Norwegian woman reported the sexual assault in March this year, after which she had to spend days in a cell before she was allowed to use a telephone.
With the help of family members, the Norwegian consulate was able to negotiate a release and she has been living under the protection of the Norwegian Sailor’s Church until her sentencing this week.
'I received the harshest sentence for sex outside marriage, harshest sentence for drinking alcohol and on top of that I was found guilty of perjury,’ the woman told Verdens Gang.
‘It is a terrible situation she is in,’ said Gisle Meling, the priest at the Norwegian Sailor’s Church.
‘We are very surprised and had hoped it would go another way, but we live in a country which has a justice system which draws its conclusions with the help of Sharia law.’ » | Sara Malm | Wednesday, July 17, 2013
