British woman tells Dubai police a waiter raped her... then SHE is arrested for drinking alcohol and having sex with her fiancé

Published 08th Jan 2010

A British woman who complained to police in Dubai that she had been raped by a stranger has been arrested for being drunk and having sex with her fiancee.

The 23-year-old told the police officers that she was attacked on New Year's Eve by a Syrian waiter working at her luxury hotel near to Dubai's marina.

But instead of following up her complaint, they subjected her to a series of humiliating medical tests and asked her questions about her sex life.

They eventually arrested both the woman and her 44-year-old boyfriend - who is also British - on suspicion of breaching the emirate's strict decency laws.

The terrified couple, from London, spent the following two days being held, in custody, in the cells of a Dubai police station.

They have since been let out, but have had their passports confiscated so they cannot leave the Gulf state until their case is heard in court.

The attack happened on just the second of the couple's three day New Year break at Dubai's £200 a night The Address hotel and spa.

On the evening of New Year's Eve, the man asked his girlfriend to marry him - which she accepted. The couple then spent the evening celebrating.

It is understood that the woman drank so much that she passed out in the hotel's toilets, whereupon a waiter, working for the hotel, raped her.

When the outraged couple, who are both thought to have Pakistani heritage, realised what had happened, they immediately told police.

But they were profoundly shocked when detectives turned around and arrested them.

The astonishing development is a stark illustration of the tensions between the United Arab Emirates' strict Islamic law - and the more liberal expectations of the country's tourists and expats.

While, according to the letter of the Emirati law, both sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol are illegal, in reality police are normally lenient with white, non-Muslim, foreigners.

In this case, however, it is likely that the police have been much more strict because the couple are both Muslim and have Pakistani heritage.

Yesterday a former cellmate of the woman told The Sun newspaper: 'She's a British girl but a Muslim, so I think they were tougher on her because of that.

'She was trying to report the rape but soon realised the policemen were more interested in how often she has sex with her boyfriend.'

The couple now face an agonising few weeks - and potentially months - as they wait for their case to be processed through Dubai's slow court system.

Yesterday a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: 'I can confirm that two British nationals were arrested in Dubai on January 1st. Our embassy in Dubai is providing consular assistance.'

A spokesman for the Address Dubai Marina hotel said: 'The hotel cannot comment on the matter as it is sub judice and being investigated by the authorities.'

Considering the huge numbers of Westerners who visit and live in Dubai every year, it is still relatively rare for Britons to fall foul of Dubai's morality laws.

But when they do, the consequences are serious.

In 2008 Britons Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer received three-month jail terms after being convicted of having sex on a beach in July 2008.

Yesterday Kate Allen, from Amnesty International, said: 'The sex lives of consenting adults should never be a criminal matter.

'If these reports are true then this will be just the latest instance of the authorities in Dubai trampling over human rights in so-called 'moral' cases.

'Instead of threatening people with jail for what they may or may not have done behind closed doors, the Emirati authorities should be investigating claims that a real offence - reportedly rape - may have taken place.

'Where are the police's priorities in all of this?'

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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