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Woman Jailed Over Dubai Rape Claim Pardoned

Woman Jailed Over Dubai Rape Claim Pardoned

A Norwegian woman who was jailed for 16 months in Dubai after she reported she had been raped, has had her sentence overturned.

Marte Dalelv, 24, told police she had been attacked by a male colleague, but was herself charged with extra-marital sex, drinking alcohol and filing a false statement.

The Norwegian government condemned the verdict, and following talks between Norway's foreign minister Espen Barth Eide and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ms Dalelv has been pardoned.

Norwegian spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerlund said: "She hasn't been deported, she has been pardoned. She can remain in Dubai if she wishes. Her passport has been returned to her.

"She will travel home shortly."

The alleged incident occurred on March 6 when Ms Dalelv, who works for an interior design firm in Qatar, was on a work trip with a group of colleagues in Dubai.

On the last day of the business trip she joined them for drinks, and later asked one of her male colleagues to escort her up to her hotel room.

Speaking to Reuters she described what she alleges happened next.

"(He was) trying to convince me to come in to his room and again I said 'no' and that's when he start pulling my bag trying to drag me to his room," she said.

"So I just thought I need to calm the situation down, so I walked in with him and I sat down and wanted to drink my bottle of water; I thought I would finish this water and find my room by myself. That's the last thing I remember.

"And the following morning I woke up on my stomach, my clothes were off and I was being raped."

Following the alleged incident, Ms Dalelv immediately went down to the hotel reception and asked them to call the police.

A group of policemen arrived and took a statement from Ms Dalelv and the alleged rapist, before they were both taken to the Bur Dubai police station.

She was then held for four days in a Dubai prison until contact was made with the Norwegian consulate and her bail was arranged.

"If I did not call the police he (her alleged attacker) will be still free but then I also wouldn't be in this situation," said Ms Dalelv who has been staying at the Norwegian Seaman's Centre in Dubai.

Her alleged attacker received a sentence of a year in prison. However, Ms Dalelv did not know if he has appealed.

Ms Dalelv said she was disappointed with the way the judicial system in Dubai deals with rape cases.

"I am very surprised. We have a DNA report, we have a medical report and we have a witness," she said.

"It is also being clarified and it has been proved that he has been lying the whole time in court in front of the judge and still they did not believe me, that was very shocking."