DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With her passport back in hand, a Norwegian interior designer who said she was raped by a Sudanese colleague during a business trip to the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai earlier this year has been “pardoned” from her conviction and 16-month sentence for extramarital sex, drinking alcohol and providing false information to authorities.
“I am very, very happy,” Marte Deborah Dalelv told The Associated Press after she was cleared by the order of Dubai’s ruler. “I am overjoyed.”
Monday’s decision cleared the way for Dalelv to return to her Nordic homeland. But it in no way reflected a change in the Islamic federation’s laws or practices that typically treat women against whom sexual violence is committed as criminals rather than victims.
Dalelv said she told police in March that she was raped by a co-worker after a night that included cocktails. She was sentenced last week.
The alleged attacker was charged with the same offenses and received a 13-month sentence. He also was cleared by a pardon.
Rape prosecutions are complicated in the United Arab Emirates because — as in some other countries influenced by Islamic law — conviction requires either a confession or the testimony of adult male witnesses.
Dalelv’s case had been brought to the attention of the Western and Gulf media. “I have my life back,” she said. “This is a great day.”
