Dubai police said they had found no evidence to support a
British woman's claim that she was raped by a waiter in the Gulf
Arab emirate, but have arrested her and her boyfriend for having
sex outside marriage.
The case is the second time in a just over a year in which Britons
have hit the headlines by falling foul of laws banning
extra-marital sex in Dubai, a Muslim emirate popular with
sun-seeking Western tourists and expatriates.
The woman, 23, and her British boyfriend, 44, were in Dubai as
tourists when they reported to police that she had been raped by a
Syrian waiter in the bathroom of a hotel bar, Khamis al-Muzinah,
deputy commander of the Dubai police, said.
"The police didn't find any proof that anything happened in the
bathroom," Muzinah said.
The investigation found that the British woman had been very drunk
and an Indian bartender had helped her find the toilets, where two
female staff were present at the time, Muzinah said.
She vomited several times and fell asleep on a chair before being
escorted back to her boyfriend by one of the two female staff, he
said.
During questioning the following day, the woman told police that
she had been sharing a hotel room with her boyfriend and that they
had had sex, which led to the couple being arrested.
"They have been charged for having sex without marriage," Muzinah
said, adding that the police had now handed the case to the public
prosecutor, who would decide whether to bring a court case against
them.
The couple are currently free, he said.
Dubai's foreign population has expanded rapidly in recent years as
expatriates flocked to the Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub for its
tax-free earnings and year-round sunshine.
The changes have challenged the Emirati population, which is now
vastly outnumbered by foreigners, raising concern that their
emirate's rapid pace of growth is a threat to their social and
religious identity in what remains a deeply conservative
region.
In a high-profile case in 2008, a British couple narrowly escaped
jail after a Dubai court found them guilty of engaging in drunken
sexual activity outside of wedlock, and for doing so in public on a
beach in the emirate.
They were sentenced to three months in prison followed by
deportation, but had their jail terms overturned on appeal.
The website of the British embassy in Dubai warns Britons of the
possible consequences of having sex outside of wedlock.
"Sexual relationships outside of marriage are illegal in Dubai and
can attract imprisonment," a list of dos and don'ts in the United
Arab Emirates says.
"We can confirm the arrests of two British nationals in Dubai on
Jan. 1. The embassy in Dubai is providing consular assistance,"
Simon Goldsmith, a spokesman for the British embassy, said.
Muzinah said media reports that the British couple were being
treated especially harshly because they are Muslims were incorrect
but that marriage may help their situation.
"Muslim or not Muslim - we will make the case. The mistake is the
same for anyone, we have a law against that," he said.
"If they get married the court might stop the case."
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