Due to Intensive Media Condemnation: Charges Dropped Against British Woman for Reporting Her Rape in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has decided to drop extramarital sex charges against a British woman who reported being raped in Dubai. The two men she accused of raping her have also been exonerated.

A legal expert says the Dubai public prosecutor likely dismissed the rape case in the face of international condemnation that was spurred by media attention — and not because of due process.

Last month, a British woman visiting the UAE told authorities two British men raped her. Prosecutors promptly charged her with breaking Emirati laws that prohibit extramarital sex. Punishment for violating the laws includes prison time, flogging, deportation, and stoning to death.

 Radha Stirling, a UAE criminal justice specialist who worked with the British woman’s family, said the rape case was dropped “as a direct result of intensive media condemnation, and not because the legal system in Dubai performed a proper investigation into the allegations.”

Source: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/23/charges-dropped-against-british-woma...