British woman arrested in Dubai after reporting a rape

[Digbert]

British woman arrested in Dubai after reporting rape
Tourist celebrating her engagement told police she been raped by a waiter and was arrested for illegal sex with fiance

A British woman who made a rape complaint in Dubai has been arrested for having illegal sex with her fiance, according to reports. The woman, a 23-year-old from London, said she was raped by a waiter in a luxury hotel after celebrating her engagement to her 44-year-old boyfriend, also from London.

But when she reported the alleged rape to police in the Middle Eastern state she and her boyfriend were arrested for having sex outside marriage and illegal drinking outside licensed premises.

The Foreign Office confirmed that two British people had been arrested and bailed, but would give no further details. A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that two British nationals were arrested in Dubai on 1 January. Our embassy in Dubai is providing consular assistance."

The woman was allegedly inebriated after celebrating her engagement on a three-day new year break to the city, where her boyfriend proposed, and lost consciousness in the women's toilets of the Address hotel where the couple were staying, according to the Sun.

The waiter is said to have followed her into the toilets and raped her while she was in a semi-conscious state. Her fiance, unaware of the attack, took her to her room.

The next day, after realising what had happened, the couple went to the Jebel Ali police station to report the crime.

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.

It is not the first time Dubai's strict laws have caused problems for British tourists. In February 2008 a BBC radio presenter, DJ Grooverider, whose real name is Raymond Bingham, was jailed for four years in Dubai after he was caught with marijuana worth £10. He was pardoned after 10 months. In July 2008 businessman Vince Acors and publishing executive Michelle Palmer received three-month jail terms after being convicted of having sex on a beach in July 2008. On his return to the UK, Acors said: "Dubai is a massive contradiction – everything is available yet everything is illegal."

Why do people even go there?
Note to self: Don't vacation in Dubai.
Source

[Visna]

Why do people even go there?

Because Dubai for some odd reason has become a playground for some obscenely rich people. Appearantly that has come to a screeching halt when the financial crisis hit, but not enough it seems. We need the crisis to get worse.

Note to self: Don't vacation in Dubai.
Source

You mean Dubai is a medieval dictatorship wrapped up in some modern buildings?

[sabaku_no_gaara]

source doesn't work anymore

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Dubai is a massive contradiction

You know you could just pick up a guide book or something, or like wiki and you would have been informed of that before even you got there.
UAEis still a backwards country by western standards, doesn't matter how many shiny buildings they put up to make it seem like a western country, they aren't one and I doubt they want to be one either.

[Il-Principe]

The story is so bizarre. I can't even feel sympathy for that woman. Hope the couple can return home though.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Acors said: "Dubai is a massive contradiction – everything is available yet everything is illegal."

Everything is available but your screwed if you do any of them. Im not sure how the cops found out she had sex with her fianci. Or did they just make an educated guess that they did since they were tourist. Their new policy is prob "arrest all tourist couples on suspicion of sex outside marriage".

That last two cases seem to be legitimate arrest. Mary J, and Sex on a beach a no no. But sex with your fianci and prob in your own hotel room IDK.

[Sphere]

As someone who has been to the region, contradiction is the best word for it. Society is somewhat reversed from the west. In the west the state can't touch you for doing socially taboo things, it is in the private realm of friends, family, co-workers etc. that you have to worry about consequences. In the gulf states, it is in the private realm where your actions are generally protected, because it is connections and hierarchy that determine your status at work, in the family etc. It is only when your social taboo's become known to the authorities that you face consequences. The people have all the same vices as westerns, they are just conditioned to be discreet about it.

[Giuliano Taverna]

The women is obviously a degenerate, (passing out drunk in a public rest room) but that doesn't even to begin to excuse the inane repression of Dubai, cultural tolerance should not extend to cultural relativism. Their laws are wrong and need to be changed, they shouldn't be allowed to participate in the global community until they adopt modern secular policies that give equal rights to all people.

The waiter should have gotten a life sentence or been executed, and the women should be able to have sex with whom ever she wishes.

Although I wouldn't be against her receiving a fine for disorderly conduct, (getting that plastered and passing out drunk in a public area.)

This reminds me of something Salman Rushdie said in an interview,

[Dr. Croccer]

Not really that surprising, seeing as Dubai is still a barbaric .

[Tiberios]

Why do people even go there?

I don't no. Even I was a milinaire I would still not go there.

Note to self: Don't vacation in Dubai.

Ohh yeah. Never ever.


Any way I think it's horrible. And the actions of the Dubai police doesn't even surprise me.

[white-wolf]

Who would think that Dubai is tribal medivial kingdom?

[Groundtotem]

Well this is just disgusting, i can't even begin to understand how a country can have so messed up laws.

Guess Dubai is on my "never go to" list now.

[Gromovnik]

Her 44 year old boyfriend, lol. It's been a long time since he was a boy...

[bushbush]

Her 44 year old boyfriend, lol. It's been a long time since he was a boy...

lulz...

[Carach]

Why do people even go there?

dunno, i abhor such backwards, religiously motivated legal systems.

Egypt was backwards enough when i went there a few years ago and that doesnt compare to some of the craziness on the Arabian peninsula....dubai has nice skyscrapers to cover up the filth that lingers within.

[Copperknickers II]

Lol. Tbh i think this is being exaggerated. Can you really be charged for having sex if it has been proved you were raped?

[PhilipO'Hayda]

it's storys like this that make me sick.

Lol. Tbh i think this is being exaggerated. Can you really be charged for having sex if it has been proved you were raped?

yes, (she can be stoned in a few place's in the east). not sure about the law there.

[Mist and Shadow]

Note to self: Don't vacation in Dubai the Middle East.

The man probably didn't realise she was "British". I will never understand peoples need to go to palces where they can have horrible things happen to them. Cause it is warm? Cause they have nice beaches?
I can understand for family but anything else is just a horrible reason.

[PhilipO'Hayda]

The man probably didn't realise she was "British". I will never understand peoples need to go to palces where they can have horrible things happen to them. Cause it is warm? Cause they have nice beaches?
I can understand for family but anything else is just a horrible reason.

I'nd love to go to Jerusalem and Istanbul.
baghdad would be fun

but it is all them funny law's that put me off.

[hellheaven1987]

Great, now I would call Rape as Illegal Sex.