Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Marte Deborah Dalelv, an interior designer from Norway who was given a 16 months in prison sentence after she reported to Dubai police that she was raped while in Dubai on business last March was granted a pardon by the United Arab Emirates’ prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The 24-year-old had been charged with the crimes of having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury after she reported the attack. Her alleged attacker, who received a 13 months sentence, was also pardoned.

The pardon follows cries of outrage from the international community for the charges to be dropped. Her sentence has been condemned by the Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who said that the court’s ruling “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and was “highly problematic from a human rights perspective.”  He also criticized Dubai’s legal system, which allows the victims of rapes and other violent assaults to be punished for being victimized, saying, “[i]t seems very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world is not even a crime.”

The 24-year old reported the incident to police, believing she would find help. Immediately following the alleged incident, Dalelv fled the scene and asked the hotel staff at the lobby desk to contact the police. Before contacting the police, the staff asked her if she was sure she wanted to involve the police in the situation. Dalelv reportedly said, “[o]f course I want to call the police,” in dealing with the incident because that was “the natural reaction” where she is from.

While the UAI attracts large numbers of western expatriates and tourists each year because of its modern cities and lifestyle, the state maintains little-publicised conservative laws regarding sexual activity and alcohol consumption. As a result, western women, like Dalelv, encounter legal trouble when reporting their rapes to police, believing they will be treated victims instead of being treated as criminals.

In January 2010, a British woman reported that she had been raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel was charged with public intoxication and having extramarital sexual intercourse. In December 2012, a British woman who reported being gang raped by three men in Dubai was found guilty of unlicensed alcohol consumption and received a fine. And in 2008, an Australian woman was convicted of having sex outside of marriage and of drinking alcohol, receiving an 11 month sentence, after she reported to police that she had been drugged and gang-raped. Emirati women fear going to police to report sexual violence for the same reasons. Three years ago, an 18-year-old Emirati woman who reported that she had been gang-raped by six men including a police officer was sentenced to a year in prison.

Human rights groups have criticized the Gulf State’s history for criminalizing the victims of rape; Human Rights Watch has called Dubai’s record on handling rape cases, which has led to a fear of reporting rape, “shameful.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Dubai Ruler Pardons Norwegian Woman Convicted after She Reported Rape – July 22, 2013

Los Angeles Times – Norwegian Who Reported Rape in Dubai ‘Pardoned’ But Laws Still Target Victims – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – UAE Pardons and Frees Norwegian Rape Victim – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – Expat Appeals UAE Sentence after Rape Charge – July 19, 2013

BBC – Dubai Sentences Norwegian Woman Who Reported Rape – July 19, 2013

Huffington Post – Marte Deborah Dalelv, Alleged Norwegian Rape Victim, Sentenced To 16 Months Jail In Dubai For Sex Outside Of Marriage – July 19, 2013

USA Today – Norwegian Convicted over Rape Report Issues Gulf Caution – July 19, 2013