When interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, arrived in Dubai in early March, she thought it would be for a short business trip. She never dreamed she’d still be there as a wanted woman.
Four days after she reported to police that a colleague had raped her, she was served with an arrest warrant, and her money and passport were confiscated. The charge? Having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol and perjury.
And the rape? A rape conviction requires either a conviction or the eyewitness testimony of four adult males. In this case, her attacker didn’t confess and there were no witnesses. Her attacker received a 13-month sentence for extramarital sex and alcohol consumption.
Dalelv was found guilty on Tuesday, and since then, she’s officially wanted by the authorities.
“I should have been imprisoned since Tuesday,” she told the AFP news agency. “But I have been told they are not searching for me.”
Her conviction is now being appealed. In the meantime, she’s holed up at the Norwegian Seamans’ Centre in Dubai, under arrangements secured by the Norwegian government.
“I am very nervous and tense,” she said. “But I hope for the best, and I take one day at a time. I just have to get through this.”
Dalelv’s case closely parallels that of Australian Alicia Gali, who was drugged and gang-raped. Like Dalelv, when Gali reported the crime, she was charged with having illicit sex outside marriage. Unfortunately, her government wasn’t as supportive as Dalelv’s.
She was savagely raped by three of her colleagues. Alone and frightened, she took herself to hospital. What Alicia didn’t know is that under the UAE’s strict sharia laws, if the perpetrator does not confess, a rape cannot be convicted without four adult Muslim male witnesses. She was charged with having illicit sex outside marriage, and thrown in a filthy jail cell for eight months.
Gali returned to Australia after her release from prison.
This is the Norwegian facebook site for Martes release:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/releasemartedeborahdalelv/
Also please sign this petition
STORMBRINGER SENDS
SB watch this from the clarion project..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XUub1no1qw
ReplyDeletealways do your research before traveling abroad. For as much as we pretend women are equals in the United States, the majority of the world does not share our altruistic endeavors. I certainly won't blame a woman for being raped, but it always pays to do your homework because ignorance carries its own penalties.
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