Dubai, Taking Victim-Blaming To Astounding New Levels
LatestA 23-year-old British woman reported a rape by a waiter in her hotel. In response, she and her fiance were arrested for having premarital sex:
In the midst of celebrating her engagement, the woman went to the bathroom, where, semi-conscious, she was followed and raped by the waiter. When she remembered the incident the next morning, the couple promptly went to the police. Relates the Guardian,
Police began to question the couple about breaking the emirate’s strict decency laws. Usual rape procedures were ignored and the woman was given a full medical check and a morning-after pill only after the intervention of British embassy staff, the paper reported. Her attacker is believed to have denied rape, saying the woman, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent, consented, but he has also been charged with “illegal sex”. It is understood the couple have been bailed but are still in Dubai. They could face up to six years if found guilty of having sex outside marriage.
In the Sun, the woman’s cellmate is quoted as saying, “She’s a British girl but a Muslim, so I think they were tougher on her because of that.” (The victim is of Pakistani descent.) Another British couple convicted of having sex outside wedlock in 2008 were given suspended sentences.
British Woman Arrested In Dubai After Reporting Rape [Guardian]
British Woman ‘Arrested In Dubai After Being Raped’ [Telegraph]
Dubai Waiter Rapes Brit Girl – Then She And Fiance Are Held For Illegal Sex [Sun]