Noorse krijgt celstraf omdat ze verkracht is

Een Noorse vrouw die in Dubai is verkracht, heeft een gevangenisstraf van 16 maanden gekregen omdat ze seks buiten het huwelijk heeft gehad. De 24-jarige Marte Dalelv was in maart op zakenreis in het land, toen ze werd verkracht. Ze deed aangifte, maar werd vervolgens zelf beschuldigd. Haar werd ook het drinken van alcohol en meineed ten laste gelegd. Deze week werd ze veroordeeld, meldt de BBC.

De man die de Noorse beschuldigde van de verkrachting heeft een gevangenisstraf van 13 maanden gekregen, eveneens voor seks buiten het huwelijk en het drinken van alcohol. Het hoger beroep dat Dalelv heeft aangetekend, wordt naar verwachting in september behandeld. Na ingrijpen van de Noorse regering mag ze het beroep in relatieve vrijheid afwachten. Ze verblijft in het Noorse Zeemanscentrum in Dubai.

De Noorse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Espen Barth Eide vindt dat de veroordeling 'lijnrecht indruist tegen ons gevoel voor rechtvaardigheid' en 'hoogst problematisch is vanuit het gezichtspunt van mensenrechten'.

Volgens de wet in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten, waartoe Dubai behoort, kan een man alleen voor verkrachting worden veroordeeld als hij zelf heeft bekend of als er vier mannelijke getuigen zijn. Dubai is de laatste jaren sterk veranderd en is een belangrijke toeristische trekpleister geworden. Desondanks is het land nog steeds erg conservatief, waardoor meer buitenlanders in de problemen zijn gekomen. Zo kreeg een Australische vrouw in 2008 acht maanden cel nadat ze had verklaard door drie collega's te zijn verkracht. Een Brits stel moest in 2010 een maand de cel in omdat ze elkaar in een restaurant een kusje op de wang hadden gegeven. Een ander Brits paar kreeg drie maanden celstraf omdat ze seks op een strand zouden hebben gehad, wat ze tevergeefs ontkenden.


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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.

'Wanted'
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. 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". According to the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, UAE law states a rape conviction can only be secured after a confession or as the result of testimony from four adult male witnesses to the crime.

Tensions
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. Public displays of affection and drunkenness are 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.


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Businesswoman was convicted of having sex outside of marriage, in addition to perjury and drinking alcohol. Rape laws in the emirates tilt against victims.

A Dubai court has sentenced a Norwegian woman to 16 months in jail for having sex outside of marriage after she reported being raped, according to news reports from the United Arab Emirates. Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, was convicted Wednesday. She was also found guilty of perjury and of drinking alcohol, the English-language Local reported. The Norway Post said she was 25. Dalelv told police March 6 that she was raped while in the emirate on business. Her father said she was instead jailed for four days and had her passport and money confiscated. She was then charged. Norwegian diplomats secured her release to the local Norwegian Seamen's Church. The Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that the verdict "flies in the face of our notion of justice" and was "highly problematic" in terms of Western human rights.

For a rape conviction, United Arab Emirates law requires either a confession or four adult male witnesses to the attack. The case was not reported in the two major English-language newspapers in the United Arab Emirates, The National and The Khaleej Times. Similar cases involving foreigners and Emirati women have been reported in the past few years. In December, a 28-year-old British woman who reported being kidnapped and gang-raped by three men in Dubai was found guilty of drinking alcohol without a license. She was fined $257. Three years ago, an Abu Dhabi court sentenced an 18-year-old Emirati woman to a year in prison for illicit sex after she reported that six men had gang-raped her. In 2008, an Australian woman managing a United Arab Emirates resort reported being brutally gang-raped while unconscious because she had been drugged. She was convicted of illegal sex outside marriage and sentenced to 11 months in prison, in addition to one month for drinking alcohol. She was pardoned after eight months, as were three men convicted of raping her. "When it comes to seeking justice for sexual violence, women in the UAE still face formidable and often insurmountable barriers," a Human Rights Watch researcher told The Independent.

Human Rights Watch has accused the United Arab Emirates of condoning sexual violence and called changes to its procedures for rape victims.


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Een Noorse vrouw is in Dubai veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 16 maanden voor het hebben van buitenechtelijke seks. De vrouw werd verkracht na een avondje uit met collega’s op zakenreis.

De 24-jarige binnenhuisarchitecte werd wakker na een avondje uit en besefte dat ze verkracht was. Ze snelde naar de lobby van haar hotel en vroeg de receptionist de politie te bellen. De politie ging op zoek naar de dader, maar ook de vrouw zelf werd aangehouden, op verdenking van buitenechtelijke seks, meineed en het drinken van alcohol. Ze werd intussen veroordeeld tot zestien maanden celstraf, maar ging onmiddellijk in beroep. De dader kwam ervan af met ‘slechts’ dertien maanden cel.

In Noorwegen wordt de veroordeling op verontwaardiging onthaald. De oppositie heeft de regering gevraagd om meer te doen om de jonge vrouw te helpen. Het Noorse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken nam alvast contact op met de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten om te bemiddelen. Sindsdien mag de Noorse het beroep in relatieve vrijheid afwachten. Ze heeft haar toevlucht genomen in een Noorse kerk in Dubai.

Volgens de wet in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten kan een man enkel veroordeeld worden voor verkrachting als hij de feiten bekent of als er vier -mannelijke- getuigen zijn van het incident.


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