Sexual assault victim jailed in Dubai for "extramarital sex"

[Ronin]

Norwegian alleges rape, fights Dubai jail sentence

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — 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."

Religion should never be a part of any laws. You can have all the religious laws you want but they should never be...actual laws. This shit is ass backwards. Too bad she's Norwegian rather than America. The US would raise a huge stink about this one. People would go there and have sex with strangers in protest. It's not only fucking stupid to jail someone for being raped but the fact that extramarital sex is ILLEGAL is absolute horse shit.

But then the same could be said of idiots like Rick Perry pushing their radical Christian agenda on America.

[Roach]

As much as I feel bad for her, it's her fault for migrating to a foreign country and not understanding the cultural issues that exist. A white woman getting raped won't change how men in Dubai view women.

It took me 10 minutes to google and figure out that Dubai is a lousy shit-hole that takes advantage of foreign labour (Indian slavery especially).

Oil doesn't buy class.

Kev

[Ronin]

I agree with you there. If you go work in Sierra Leone and get shot in the face, well...told ya so?

But my point is more about the separation of church and state. Human rights groups are all over it when a group is persecuted for their religion...why is there no one protesting the reverse? Pushing views on others that don't believe the same thing through the courts?

[GLOW]

i think there's something wrong with their police/law where a woman is raped and gets asked:

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.

[Gnomes]

Dubai laws appear to be as f*ed up as laws from Texas.

[RRxtar]

Whats worse is she got 16 months. Her rapist got 13 months, and that included a charge for alcohol consumption

[Nicotine]

its all cultural diffrence
last time i went i learned a few things.
if theres is a conflict between you (foreigner) and a local, the local will win (in regards to police/legal issues)
when a women gets raped it is her fault because "she provoked him"
pointing your finger (literally) at a local is a good way to get locked up quickly, especialy the left hand.
you can get locked up for so many different things its ridiculous, i was actually blown away.

[BurnoutBinLaden]

Originally Posted by Gnomes

Dubai laws appear to be as f*ed up as laws from Texas.

One big difference-Texas has freedom of expression. People have made a living out of criticising the government. Try criticising the UAE royals or anyone with higher wasta (roughly translated it means "social pull") than you and bad things happen. It's the same all around the Gulf.

Dubai will never be a true world city if its laws are based around the Qur'an. If you are Muslim and you convert, the penalty is death. Hold hands? Jail. Kiss in public? Jail. Drink during Ramadan? Jail. Charge interest? Jail. Get raped? Jail.

It's like 50C with 100% humidity all summer long. That's why the locals go to London and Paris and drive their supercars through Knightsbridge in the summer. They go to clubs and drink all they want, gamble, have sex-stuff that would get them beheaded in their homeland. Then they go to their palatial houses and bow to Mecca like it absolves them of their sins.

No one wanders Deira or the Souks of Old Dubai, they just hang around the shopping malls because it's too goddamn hot to do anything else. Hence why people say there's no culture in Dubai.

It grew too fast, a lot of areas didn't even have sewage pipes until three years ago.

It's insanely corrupt, whether or not you get shit done depends on your level of wasta. And people around here complain about the bureaucracy here.

Another thing about wasta, they say if you get stabbed by someone with higher wasta than you, you will be accused of not getting out of the way of the knife in time.

There's obviously the labour issues, Indian slaves who have their passports taken away on arrival, but if you bring it up you get silenced for "insulting the government". Look up Sonapur, the slum where the workers live. They have to work in this 50C sauna for 16 hours a day.

Filipino and Ethiopian maids routinely get abused and have very little options to improve their situation. Here in Canada if someone is abused, they can get help. When maids and housekeepers get held against their will, it makes headlines and the perpetrators are punished-in Dubai no one bats an eye and it gets swept under the rug.

Conspicuousness as far as the eye can see, Russian oligarchs and Kazakh oil tycoons flush with dirty cash drop bazillions of Dirhams in clubs, on prostitutes, solid gold cars, even exotic animals.

The roads of Dubai are extremely dangerous. No one gives a flying fuck, and if you get into a crash with someone with higher wasta, they are untouchable. Brutal accidents and deaths are a daily occurance. You think Vancouver drivers are bad? Try driving in the Middle East or North Africa and you'll never complain about the drivers here again.

In short, fuck Dubai up the ass with the pointy end of the Burj Khalifa. It can keep its obscene wealth and 13th century social views on the other side of the world.

[BurnoutBinLaden]

The dark side of Dubai - Johann Hari - Commentators - The Independent

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/...ld_a_city.html

[finbar]

Bribe an official and move on.

[Nicotine]

^only works if your local or you have serious pull already.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Nicotine

its all cultural diffrence
last time i went i learned a few things.
if theres is a conflict between you (foreigner) and a local, the local will win (in regards to police/legal issues)
when a women gets raped it is her fault because "she provoked him"
pointing your finger (literally) at a local is a good way to get locked up quickly, especialy the left hand.
you can get locked up for so many different things its ridiculous, i was actually blown away.

Then that culture is wrong. Everything you describe is backwards and wrong. Call it racist if you want but there are people outraged by bullfighting in Spain despite that being part of their traditions and culture. How can people get away with this garbage simply by saying it's part of their beliefs?

That's saying that not only does everyone living in that country have to participate in their religious zealotry but so does everyone VISITING...and that's stupid. There are countries all over the world being sanctioned by the UN for discriminating and persecuting people of certain religions...how is this different?

[DragonChi]

If you think it's bad, yes it is. But if you think they should change their laws because it's bad then you can go fuck yourself. It's just as bad as people that impose their religion on you. Don't be a hypocrite. It's their country, let them do what they want with it. If it gets bad enough, eventually there'll be another arab spring.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Then that culture is wrong. Everything you describe is backwards and wrong. Call it racist if you want but there are people outraged by bullfighting in Spain despite that being part of their traditions and culture. How can people get away with this garbage simply by saying it's part of their beliefs?

That's saying that not only does everyone living in that country have to participate in their religious zealotry but so does everyone VISITING...and that's stupid. There are countries all over the world being sanctioned by the UN for discriminating and persecuting people of certain religions...how is this different?

Well, you have to have it that way. You can't have your women covered 24/7/365 and then have foreign women running around dressed like prostitutes(you know, their face visible) holding hands with men in public.

That just invites social change. Social change usually means change in power and in these places power=money.

I read an interesting thing awhile ago that the oil economies usually end up running like this because of the oil wealth. No one has to pay into the operation of government so no one cares. It's not "their" money so there is no incentive to change it.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Nicotine

its all cultural diffrence
last time i went i learned a few things.
if theres is a conflict between you (foreigner) and a local, the local will win (in regards to police/legal issues)
when a women gets raped it is her fault because "she provoked him"
pointing your finger (literally) at a local is a good way to get locked up quickly, especialy the left hand.
you can get locked up for so many different things its ridiculous, i was actually blown away.

They are still living in medieval times there, in terms of politics and law

[Manic!]

In Pakistan a women has to have 2 male witnesses or she gets blamed.

I have dealt with a number students that are from the Middle East as renters and customers of our gas station. They like to smoke, drink and do everything else they can't do back home. A bouncer from a local strip club (now closed) was telling me about the Afro crew. A bunch of guys from Saudi Arabia who all had afro's and like to visit the strip club. One of them use to tell everyone he was a crow prince.

I also here at schools like UBC there are way more female students then male students because going to school is the only way they can get some freedom.

[DanHibiki]

shit like this pisses me off

i hate rape

[RTS]

I don't condone rape by any means, but the full story as reported on other websites includes this:

She said she had been out at a bar with her colleagues and friends, and asked a male colleague to walk her to her room when they returned at 3 a.m. to the hotel. She'd asked him to escort her because the hotel was large and confusing, and she didn't want to be wandering on her own, knowing she'd been drinking, she said.

When they reached a room, she realized it wasn't hers -- but the man then pulled her inside despite her vocal objections, according to Dalelv.

"He dragged me by my purse in, so I thought, 'OK, I just need to calm the situation down. I will finish my bottle of water, I will sit here and then I will excuse myself and say I feel fine,'" she said.

That was pretty much the last thing she said she remembers before the alleged sexual assault. "I woke up with my clothes off, sleeping on my belly, and he was raping me. I tried to get off, I tried to get him off, but he pushed me back down."

A lot of fishy shit there. Some guy supposedly drags her into a room and she falls asleep even though she feared being raped? I don't know... And after a few days she said it was voluntary to begin with? She definitely shouldn't be in jail, but I don't know that the guy should be either. The rape kit test at the hospital should have shown something.

[PiuYi]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Then that culture is wrong. Everything you describe is backwards and wrong. Call it racist if you want but there are people outraged by bullfighting in Spain despite that being part of their traditions and culture. How can people get away with this garbage simply by saying it's part of their beliefs?

That's saying that not only does everyone living in that country have to participate in their religious zealotry but so does everyone VISITING...and that's stupid. There are countries all over the world being sanctioned by the UN for discriminating and persecuting people of certain religions...how is this different?

not saying I don't agree with you here, but how can you call a culture wrong? it's simply different. the world is amazing and beautiful because there are so many different cultures that are so unlike our own! how boring would it be if everyone everywhere held the same beliefs?? experiencing different cultures is not always pleasant, but that's why it's so great

it's like if I came from a polygamous society to Canada and called it ass-backwards because everyone only has one wife. People from different places have different beliefs and traditions. Visitors have to respect that culture and not force their own beliefs on local tradition.

the only thing wrong here is the lack of acceptance of any culture that does not align with our own

once again, i do sympathize for the rape victim... but she's in the UAE and not Norway, and that's how it is there

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by PiuYi

once again, i do sympathize for the rape victim... but she's in the UAE and not Norway, and that's how it is there

Basic human rights should be respected everywhere. No matter what the culture is.

[rsx]

Originally Posted by PiuYi

not saying I don't agree with you here, but how can you call a culture wrong? it's simply different. the world is amazing and beautiful because there are so many different cultures that are so unlike our own! how boring would it be if everyone everywhere held the same beliefs?? experiencing different cultures is not always pleasant, but that's why it's so great

it's like if I came from a polygamous society to Canada and called it ass-backwards because everyone only has one wife. People from different places have different beliefs and traditions. Visitors have to respect that culture and not force their own beliefs on local tradition.

the only thing wrong here is the lack of acceptance of any culture that does not align with our own

once again, i do sympathize for the rape victim... but she's in the UAE and not Norway, and that's how it is there

It is wrong. Traditions such as female circumcision, pedarasty and treating women unequally, negatively affect well-being. Just because it's been done for centuries, doesn't make it right. Sam Harris would argue moral relativism is bullshit and I completely agree with him.

The Lottery, illustrates how traditions and culture, despite being practiced, for generations, can be wrong when it brings down human value or negatively affect their well being.

[finbar]

Originally Posted by Nicotine

^only works if your local or you have serious pull already.

She has the pull of a big media stink and the locals know it.

Sucks to be chattel.

[DragonChi]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Basic human rights should be respected everywhere. No matter what the culture is.

Rape has nothing to do with basic human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

At least the way I see it.

Don't get me wrong, rape is disgusting and any man, majority of the time, or woman, is a coward if they commit to it.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by DragonChi

Rape has nothing to do with basic human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

At least the way I see it.

Don't get me wrong, rape is disgusting and any man, majority of the time, or woman, is a coward if they commit to it.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Do you not believe rape is a form of torture is cruel inhuman degrading ans is used as a form of punishment?

[SkinnyPupp]

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

How far down that list do you have to go before finding one that UAE DOES adhere to?