Post: #1

Story here

Quote:A British woman who was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by three men in Dubai has been prosecuted for drinking without a licence, throwing a spotlight on the United Arab Emirates’ archaic legal system, which rights groups say does not do enough to protect victims of sexual assault.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims she was raped repeatedly by the three men who filmed the attack after they lured her into their car as she returned from a night out with friends.

After reporting her ordeal to the police, the 28-year-old found herself in the dock because she admitted she had been drinking earlier that night.

Human Rights Watch has called on the UAE to improve its judicial practices for rape victims, saying those reporting crimes too often end up being charged themselves.

Lulled into a false sense of security by the drinking culture encouraged in the five-star hotels that line the shores of the oil-rich Emirate, expatriates often find themselves on the wrong side of the country’s strict laws. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office says British nationals are more likely to be arrested in the UAE than anywhere else in the world.

However, the legal system’s treatment of victims of sexual crimes has drawn particular condemnation.

“In the UAE, there have been multiple cases over the past few years where the state has charged women with criminal offences after they have reported rape,” said Samer Muscati, a researcher in the women right’s division of Human Rights Watch.

“When it comes to seeking justice for sexual violence, women in the UAE still face formidable and often insurmountable barriers.”

In 2010, the case of an 18-year-old Emirati – who was sentenced to a year in prison for illicit sex after she reported that she had been gang raped by six men – drew international outrage. Dr Rima Al Sabban, an assistant professor at Zayed University who specialises in women’s issues, said that the system can discourage women from reporting rape.

“Potential rapists can take advantage of this, knowing that the woman is in a weak position and might be afraid of being prosecuted,” she said. “Women become double victims.”

The woman in this latest case had been drinking for six hours at the Rock Bottom Cafe, a local bar known for its cheap drinks, with its own kebab kiosk for exiting revellers. A Pakistani taxi driver who picked the woman up at 3am testified that she was “totally drunk” and fell asleep on the back seat. The woman, who works in a managerial position, asked to stop at a cash point, but after failing to withdraw money she was unable to pay the fare when she reached her building in the upscale waterfront community of Jumeirah Beach Residence.

The taxi driver said a red Hyundai then pulled up, and two men got out. They said they knew the woman and paid the fare.

“I saw her sitting in the front seat next to the driver. After that I drove away,” he was reported as saying. The woman says she was then taken to an apartment where the men repeatedly raped her, dragging her back as she tried to escape.

“I noticed one of them filming me and I begged them to let me go but they ignored my pleas and laughed at me,” she told the court, according to The National newspaper.

The victim’s 26-year-old French flatmate said the woman returned home at around 8.30am and appeared “confused”. She took her to a police station to report the assault.

Two 20-year-old Iranian men are on trial for the assault, while the third has not been traced. They deny the charges.

The men’s defence lawyer claimed that the woman had fabricated the claims, saying: “She watches a lot of action movies”.

First Corporal Marwan Salem, who investigated the incident, said one of the defendants had said he had been scared of kidnapping “a British woman” but had been convinced by his co-defendant that she would be too drunk to recognise them, Emirates 24/7 reported.

The woman says she drank three glasses of wine. Drinking without a liquor licence is technically illegal in Dubai, though the document is never asked for at bars and hotels. She was fined 1,000 dirhams (£169)

Post: #2

They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

Post: #3

(12-07-2012 12:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

Western media reporting of middle eastern affairs is outrageously biased, especially when it comes to male-female issues. They love to paint the middle east as barbaric when it comes to gender relations, but the reality is that the middle east is one of the few places on earth where female hypergamous instincts are kept in check.

Post: #4

I live nearby at the moment. The culture still believes that men cannot be trained to act morally around non-related women. They still believe westerners (Brits) the women are skanks and immoral in their eyes. So, they aren't going to make a big fuss over this. These laws from the 7th century aren't really applicable today as i believe boys can grow into men and be taught to act morally around all women. Of course, not all do....

Here is simple summary of what she is up against....
Under Islamic law, rape can only be proven if the rapist confesses or if there are four male witnesses. Women who allege rape, without the benefit of the act having been witnessed by four men who subsequently develop a conscience, are actually confessing to having sex. If they or the accused happens to be married, then it is considered to be adultery. Hence we come to another problem being accused of adultery which can be punishable by death.

Sharia law in this case won't help the woman in question. Even though this 7th century law doesn't make much sense for the world today. On the flip side, westerners are also on the other side of the spectrum where women aren't punished for false rape claims. Does a utopia exist?

Some women here love the attention that they get from all the men that otherwise they wouldn't get back home. Not gonna get into that part, but women should realize that the law here is different than from back home.

Post: #5

(12-07-2012 12:54 PM)assman Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

Western media reporting of middle eastern affairs is outrageously biased, especially when it comes to male-female issues. They love to paint the middle east as barbaric when it comes to gender relations, but the reality is that the middle east is one of the few places on earth where female hypergamous instincts are kept in check.

Of course it's not like it is in the west, but it still exists, kept in check as you put. It's not natural to separate the sexes. Grown ups behaving like a grade 8 school dance, separate from each other. Nature always wins. Eventually, it will open up.

Post: #6

(12-07-2012 01:24 PM)tomtud Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:54 PM)assman Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

Western media reporting of middle eastern affairs is outrageously biased, especially when it comes to male-female issues. They love to paint the middle east as barbaric when it comes to gender relations, but the reality is that the middle east is one of the few places on earth where female hypergamous instincts are kept in check.

Of course it's not like it is in the west, but it still exists, kept in check as you put. It's not natural to separate the sexes. Grown ups behaving like a grade 8 school dance, separate from each other. Nature always wins. Eventually, it will open up.

Yes, it is quite natural to separate the sexes until they are paired up and married off - all cultures that understood human nature did this. Co-ed schooling, single women cavorting with unrelated men without a chaperone, etc., are modern, western innovations - by a modern western culture that has willfully blinded itself to human nature. And we can see how that's paying off.

Post: #7

Couldn't have said it better myself DarkTriad.

(12-07-2012 12:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

I also love how the title of the article implies that nobody is being prosecuted for the rape.

Here's how the inverse might sound: "Briton illegally drinks herself to oblivion in UAE, but 3 men find themselves accused of rape."

Post: #8

These stories paint the wrong picture. As someone who lived in the UAE for a long time, I can attest that they are not barbaric when it comes to how they treat women. The other side of these rules is almost never shown in the media.

For example, if a woman feels a man is being 'indecent', which means touching her at all, or even talking to her disrespectfully, she can call the cops and have that man arrested. So it's not like people get away with rape and stuff all the time over there. If anything, crime rates in Dubai are very low.

The time this system is biased against women is when they undertake actions that society there would consider asking for trouble, for example, drinking with groups of men; or hanging out with men while you are a single girl etc.

Also, as mentioned above, it's not like the men are getting away scott-free. Each party is being punished for their respective crime.

People who complain that the UAE restricts your freedom have to realize that the concepts of freedom of speech, freedom of press etc are american, and these countries have never played by those rules. If you want to drink, party and sleep around, go somewhere else and do that. If you live in a country, you have to abide by its rules.

Post: #9

(12-07-2012 02:46 PM)assman Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 01:24 PM)tomtud Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:54 PM)assman Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  They're being charged for thee crimes they committed, she's being charged for the crime she committed. Not quite as outrageous as they're trying to paint it. Do they expect every country on the globe to suspend every one of their laws for every woman that also has a prolem with a man?

Western media reporting of middle eastern affairs is outrageously biased, especially when it comes to male-female issues. They love to paint the middle east as barbaric when it comes to gender relations, but the reality is that the middle east is one of the few places on earth where female hypergamous instincts are kept in check.

Of course it's not like it is in the west, but it still exists, kept in check as you put. It's not natural to separate the sexes. Grown ups behaving like a grade 8 school dance, separate from each other. Nature always wins. Eventually, it will open up.

Yes, it is quite natural to separate the sexes until they are paired up and married off - all cultures that understood human nature did this. Co-ed schooling, single women cavorting with unrelated men without a chaperone, etc., are modern, western innovations - by a modern western culture that has willfully blinded itself to human nature. And we can see how that's paying off.

Now cultures, that is not natural but man made. Nature is different. I am drawn to sexy women, I don't want to live segregated from them. But be able to interact with them. This is one aspect of the Middle East that I hate. As for criticizing modern western civ, well problems do exist, but some people (even those in the Middle East) like to live in open societies too.

I am not sure if you lived in the Middle East, but segregating the sexes is a much bigger issue then actually portrayed. The men behave sometimes like a cartoon figure when they see something they see a piece of meat nd start salivating. You have men in Egypt harassing women ( even in hijabs) groping them etc. clearly they are desperate. Is segregation to blame? It definitely is a factor.

Speaking to Arabs here and knowing the culture, they admire western culture as a whole. Even myself, being a westerner don't like some of the values it holds. But, culture, Islam is a fabric here that is hard to dismiss.

Local Women from this region when they board a plane to go anywhere except Saudi Arabia take of their abayas and put on western clothes. They interact with males with moral and immoral intentions. For them to have a right to choose is natural.