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Dubai drops charges against rape victim

A British tourist who faced being flogged for extramarital sex in Dubai after she reported an alleged gang rape will no longer face charges.

Dubai
File image. Source: AAP

Charges against a British woman arrested in Dubai after reporting her own rape have been dropped.

The woman's family say their daughter was on holiday with plans to travel to Australia when she was allegedly raped by two British men in Dubai and later arrested for reporting her rape.

Britain-based legal advocacy group Detained in Dubai says the 25-year-old woman faced charges of having extramarital sex that could have led to her imprisonment and flogging.

The British Press Association reported that the Dubai Public Prosecutor's office said both men were arrested and questioned and after "careful" examination of the evidence, including mobile phone footage, investigators concluded the act had been consensual.

"The public prosecutor's office clarified that a thorough review of statements given by the British woman and the two suspects as well as the reports of investigating officers from Dubai Police, showed that the act happened with the consent of the three parties in question," it said.

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"A video obtained from the mobile phone of one of the suspects detailing the act was a key evidence that supported this conclusion."

The case put a spotlight on persistent and deep-rooted prejudice against women in Dubai, rights groups said.


2 min read

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Source: AAP



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