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[johnslat]

"Marte Deborah Dalelv, Alleged Norwegian Rape Victim, Sentenced To 16 Months Jail In Dubai For Sex Outside Of Marriage


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A Norwegian woman sentenced to 16 months in jail in Dubai for having sex outside marriage after she reported an alleged rape said Friday she decided to speak out in hopes of drawing attention to the risks of outsiders misunderstanding the Islamic-influenced legal codes in this cosmopolitan city.

The case has drawn outrage from rights groups and others in the West since the 24-year-old interior designer was sentenced Wednesday. It also highlights the increasingly frequent tensions between the United Arab Emirates' international atmosphere and its legal system, which is strongly influenced by Islamic traditions in a nation where foreign workers and visitors greatly outnumber locals.

"I have to spread the word. ... After my sentence we thought, `How can it get worse?'" Marte Deborah Dalelv told The Associated Press in an interview at a Norwegian aid compound in Dubai where she is preparing her appeal scheduled for early September.

Dalelv, who worked for an interior design firm in Qatar since 2011, claims she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker in March while she was attending a business meeting in Dubai.

She said she fled to the hotel lobby and asked for the police to be called. The hotel staff asked if she was sure she wanted to involve the police, Dalelv said.

"Of course I want to call the police," she said. "That is the natural reaction where I am from."

Dalelv said she was given a medical examination seeking evidence of the alleged rape and underwent a blood test for alcohol. Such tests are commonly given in the UAE for alleged assaults and in other cases. Alcohol is sold widely across Dubai, but public intoxication can bring charges.

The AP does not identity the names of alleged sexual assault victims, but Dalelv went public voluntarily to talk to media.

Dalelv was detained for four days after being accused of having sex outside marriage, which is outlawed in the UAE although the law is not actively enforced for tourists as well as hundreds of thousands of Westerners and others on resident visas.

She managed to reach her stepfather in Norway after being loaned a phone card by another woman in custody.

"My stepdad, he answered the phone, so I said, that I had been raped, I am in prison ... please call the embassy," she recounted.

"And then I went back and I ... just had a breakdown," she continued. "It was very emotional, to call my dad and tell him what happened."

Norwegian diplomats later secured her release and she has been allowed to remain at the Norwegian Seamen's Center in central Dubai. She said her alleged attacker received a 13-month sentence for out-of-wedlock sex and alcohol consumption.

Dubai authorities did not respond to calls for comment, but the case has brought strong criticism from Norwegian officials and activists.

"This verdict flies in the face of our notion of justice," Norway's foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, told the NTB news agency, calling it "highly problematic from a human rights perspective."

Previous cases in the UAE have raised similar questions, with alleged sexual assault victims facing charges for sex-related offenses. Other legal codes also have been criticized for being at odds with the Western-style openness promoted by Dubai.

On Thursday, Dubai police said they arrested a man who posted an Internet video of an Emirati beating a South Asian van driver after an apparent traffic altercation. Police said they took the action because images of a potential crime were "shared."

In London, a spokesman for the Emirates Center for Human Rights, a group monitoring UAE affairs, said the Dalelv case points out the need for the UAE to expand its legal protections for alleged rape victims.

"We urge authorities to reform the laws governing incidents of rape in the country," said Rori Donaghy, "to ensure women are protected against sexual violence and do not become the targets of prosecution when reporting crimes."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/19/marte-deborah-dalelv-sentenced-norwegian-rape-dubai_n_3624867.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Regards,
John

[rdobbs98]

The UAE isn't even applying Islamic law but their twisted method for oppression. In Egypt a rapist is hung, at least pre-Morsi and probably post Morsi. You must remember its not a democracy but an autocratic state yet everyone thinks its like the UK.

[veiledsentiments]

Isn't it telling that she got a 16 month sentence and he only got 13 months...

But then even in the UK or US, there is still a very strong "blame the victim" mentality when it comes to rape. There is still a good reason why the vast majority of rapes are never reported. But at least the victim is not jailed, but merely publicly humiliated with the perpetrator getting a mere slap on the wrist if any punishment at all.

VS

[veiledsentiments]

The good news is that she has been pardoned and given her passport so that she can leave. (I noted that he was pardoned too... )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23404042

VS

[johnslat]

Media attention and outside government pressure - I'd like to think it was shame and the realization of how wrong they were, but realistically, it was, I'd say, the fear of losing tourist dollars and other economic consequences that brought about the reversal.

"Barth Eide told the Norwegian news agency NTB that international media attention and Norway's diplomatic measures helped Dalelv, who was free on appeal with her next court hearing scheduled for early September. Norway also reminded the United Arab Emirates of obligations under U.N. accords to seriously investigate claims of violence against women."

"Norway's foreign minister said "very high level" Norwegian officials, including himself, had been in daily contact with counterparts in the United Arab Emirates since the verdict against Dalelv.
"We have made very clear what we think about this verdict and what we think about the fact that one is charged and sentenced when one starts out by reporting alleged abuse," Barth Eide said."

Regards,
John

[Geronimo]

Having previously failed to cover it, the local UAE-based newspaper, "TheNational",
provided us with 4 pieces about the Marte Dalelv case in yesterday's edition.

It states that Marte Dalelv retracted her rape allegations, and thus this was not a rape case...
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/courts/facts-behind-the-headlines-of-the-marte-deborah-dalelv-dubai-sex-case

...and, in view of these facts, "TheNational" claimed that the case has been misrepresented badly by the international media, including the BBC...
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/international-coverage-of-uae-law-ignorance-is-no-excuse

Its editorial piece - http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/dubai-sex-case-offers-lessons-both-in-the-uae-and-abroad -
concludes as follows:

"The National has long argued for better protections for victims of sexual violence. Dubai Police have found that only 9.5 per cent of sexual assault victims have reported the crime, with most remaining silent for fear of being prosecuted themselves. The result is that sexual criminals roam the streets with impunity. No woman should have to endure such fear.

There are precedents for reform. The UAE has aggressively tackled the scourge of human trafficking, with a law in 2006 that prohibits prosecutors from charging a victim of trafficking who reports what has happened to them to the police, even if in doing so the victim admits to consensual sex. Judicial authorities have also campaigned for a more victim-centred approach to sexual crime. That approach, however, has yet to be embraced by the legal system. The police have made strides in protecting victims of sexual violence, from improving evidence-gathering techniques to encouraging victims to report attacks.

But we must all do better. Ms Dalelv was pardoned, her life has changed. Real change will be when every victim of rape can report the crime, confident in the knowledge that she herself is not a criminal."

And Marte Dalelv provided her reaction to news of the pardon...
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/pardoned-norwegian-woman-in-dubai-rape-claim-case-overwhelmed-by-freedom

Geronimo

[veiledsentiments]

I would suspect that 9.5% is a massive over-estimation of the percentage of reported assaults. Among locals and non-white expats, I would estimate the percentage of reported assaults to be .00000000000001% - perhaps not that high.

I find her explanation of the withdrawal of the accusation as believable... and the prosecution's comments to be pure bull...

VS