Sunday, July 21, 2013

Woman in Dubai Reports Rape, Gets Prison Time; Norwegian, 24, Charged with Illegal Use of Alcohol

Marte Deborah Dalelv was looking to have her alleged attacker arrested when she reported she had been raped by a colleague. Instead, the 24-year-old Norwegian woman working in Qatar was arrested herself, and was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of sex outside of marriage, making a false statement, and illegal consumption of alcohol, the Newser website reports today (July 21, 2013).

Dalelv says she was on a work trip in Dubai and had been drinking with colleagues at a bar. She asked a male colleague to escort her back to her hotel room for safety reasons, but she says the man instead led her to his room, where he raped her.

Dalelv called police the next day, and was taken to the police station. But there, she says, the officers didn't believe her. They kept her in jail for four days without explanation.

She is now out of jail while an appeal is pending. She says she is speaking out to warn other foreigners in Dubai. "Dubai seems like a Western city, but what a lot of tourists don't know, for example, is that it's not legal for them to drink alcohol," she said.

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