The Dutch tourist claims she was drugged and raped, but her alleged attacker says they had consensual sex and she asked for money.
10:31, UK,Monday 13 June 2016
A 22-year-old Dutch tourist, who claimed she had been raped while on holiday in Qatar, has been convicted of adultery.
The woman, who was not present for Monday's hearing in a Doha court, was handed a one-year suspended sentence and also fined 3,000 Qatari riyals (£564).
Her lawyer, Brian Lokollo, said she was on holiday with a friend and went out for drinks at a hotel bar in the Qatari capital.
Mr Lokollo said she believes someone "messed with her drink" and her memory became hazy.
He said she later awoke alone in an apartment she had never been in before and found her clothes had been torn.
It is then that she "realised to her great horror, that she had been raped".
Dutch media quoted him as saying: "She was arrested in March on suspicion of adultery, which means having sex outside marriage."
The woman maintained she was not guilty of the accusation made against her.
The male defendant, also not in court, was sentenced to receive 100 lashes for adultery and 40 lashes for consuming alcohol.
He insisted their night together had been consensual and that the woman had even asked for money.
A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the woman was released by Qatari officials after the hearing.
Response:
This article gives quick facts about the controversy surrounding a potential rape case that happened in Qatar. Compared to the very publicized Stanford rape case, this article did not have sufficient details. The only bias I detect in this article is in the title. The quotation marks around rape victim gives the impression that perhaps it was not a case of rape. The way the article presents this case it seems like it is only the people's word against each other. Surely there must be some evidence if the victim's drink was messed with. Since it happened in a hotel, evidence could be found on the security cameras. Due to the scarcity of details within this article I researched the same article on different news websites. A BBC article expounded on the issue, the woman was detained about 3 months ago but the family recently went public with this story. The fact that the woman also woke up in a strange apartment with her clothes torn strengthens her claim of rape. I personally think that it was a case of rape because she said she did not give any consent. The same type of issue is surrounding the Stanford rape case. The attacker claims that she consented because she was drinking and they danced but even in that case if no consent is given then it is rape. I do not see a gray area.
This article gives quick facts about the controversy surrounding a potential rape case that happened in Qatar. Compared to the very publicized Stanford rape case, this article did not have sufficient details. The only bias I detect in this article is in the title. The quotation marks around rape victim gives the impression that perhaps it was not a case of rape. The way the article presents this case it seems like it is only the people's word against each other. Surely there must be some evidence if the victim's drink was messed with. Since it happened in a hotel, evidence could be found on the security cameras. Due to the scarcity of details within this article I researched the same article on different news websites. A BBC article expounded on the issue, the woman was detained about 3 months ago but the family recently went public with this story. The fact that the woman also woke up in a strange apartment with her clothes torn strengthens her claim of rape. I personally think that it was a case of rape because she said she did not give any consent. The same type of issue is surrounding the Stanford rape case. The attacker claims that she consented because she was drinking and they danced but even in that case if no consent is given then it is rape. I do not see a gray area.
As I researched more on this story, I discovered that the lady was convicted with the crime of 'zina' under the Islamic law. Since there were doubts about the consent both parties were charged with zina- having extramarital sex. Even though I do not think this charge is just, it is what the law of Qatar is. These Islamic laws will become even more of a reality for foreigners because of the 2022 Fifa World Cup. So I think it is important to define the boundaries when the law of a country is violated vs consequences that violate human rights. Additionally, cases like the one the article highlighted are not as rare as I previously thought. In 2013 a similar event happened in the United Arab Emirates to a Norwegian woman. Fortunately, she was pardoned from her prison time and returned to Norway.
Source:
"Qatar 'Rape Victim' Convicted Of Adultery." Sky News. 2016 Sky UK, 13 June 2016. Web. 13 June 2016.
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