Caught between 'Islamic
traditions' and Western Booming policies eventually effects the innocence of
society. Here is one of the 'shown' example.
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Marte Deborah Dalelv from
Norway, 24, talks to the Associated Press reporter in Dubai on Friday, July 19,
2013, after she was sentenced 16 months in jail for having sex outside of
marriage after she reported an alleged rape.
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By Brian Murphy, The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A
Norwegian woman sentenced to 16 months in jail in Dubai for having sex outside
marriage after she reported an alleged rape said 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 Friday 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."
©
2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
