Gang-Raped U.A.E. Woman Charged With Illegal Sex, National Says

An 18-year-old woman from the United Arab Emirates has been charged with having extra-marital sex after reporting a gang-rape by six men, government-owned The National newspaper reported.

The woman, who went for a car ride with a male friend May 2 in the U.A.E. capital Abu Dhabi, accuses him and five other men of raping her, said the daily, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Prosecutors say the woman first had consensual sex with her friend, the paper reported, citing testimony yesterday at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court.

U.A.E. authorities have charged her with violating the Islamic prohibition on sexual relations between unmarried men and women, The National said. The six men are on trial for rape. The raped woman is being held in custody, the paper said.

A woman who was gang-raped in Saudi Arabia in 2006 by seven men was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for breaching privacy laws by meeting with an unrelated man.

In February, a British tourist dropped allegations that she was raped by an employee of a luxury hotel in Dubai in order to avoid prison and return home, The Sun newspaper reported. The 23-year-old, of Pakistani origin, signed a paper withdrawing the claim in return for the police dropping charges of unlawful extramarital sex and illegal alcohol consumption against her and her 44-year-old fiancée, the U.K. daily said. The woman spent two days in jail after reporting the rape on New Year’s Day.