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Dubai (CNN) -- Norwegian interior designer Marte
Deborah Dalelv has spoken out after being handed a 16-month prison
sentence in Dubai -- after she went to police to report she had been
raped by a colleague.
The 24-year-old was
convicted and sentenced on charges of having unlawful sex, making a
false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol.
Her story is dominating
the headlines in Norway, and has raised serious questions over the way
women who allege sexual assault are treated in the United Arab Emirates.
Dalelv, who had been
working at an interior design firm in Qatar since September 2011, told
CNN on Saturday how a work trip to Dubai in March with three colleagues
turned into a nightmare.
She said she had been out
at a bar with her colleagues and friends, and asked a male colleague to
walk her to her room when they returned at 3 a.m. to the hotel. She'd
asked him to escort her because the hotel was large and confusing, and
she didn't want to be wandering on her own, knowing she'd been drinking,
she said.
When they reached a room,
she realized it wasn't hers -- but the man then pulled her inside
despite her vocal objections, according to Dalelv.
"He dragged me by my
purse in, so I thought, 'OK, I just need to calm the situation down. I
will finish my bottle of water, I will sit here and then I will excuse
myself and say I feel fine,'" she said.
That was pretty much the
last thing she said she remembers before the alleged sexual assault. "I
woke up with my clothes off, sleeping on my belly, and he was raping me.
I tried to get off, I tried to get him off, but he pushed me back
down."
After someone knocked --
the hotel wake-up call -- she managed to get dressed and make it
downstairs to the hotel reception, Dalelv said. "I called the police.
That is what you do. We are trained on that from when we are very
young," she said.
Some 10 or 12 male
police officers arrived, but no female police officers were present, she
said. Statements were taken from both Dalelv and the alleged rapist.
She was then taken to Bur Dubai police station, she said.
After again giving her
version of events to officers, Dalelv said, "They asked me, 'Are you
sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?' I said,
'Well of course I didn't like it.' That is when I knew, I don't think
they are going to believe me at all."
Dalelv says she was
taken for an intimate medical exam and tested for alcohol consumption.
Her belongings were taken and she was kept in jail for four days, she
said, with no explanation as to why.
Dubai police and UAE government officials have not responded to repeated CNN requests for comment.
Dalelv said she managed
to call her parents on the third day to tell them she had been raped and
ask them to contact the Norwegian Embassy. A day later, a
representative from the Norwegian consulate came to the police station
and she was released -- but her passport was not returned.
A piece of paper with
Arabic text was handed to her, she said. An Arabic speaker told her it
listed two charges against her: one for sex outside of marriage and the
other for public consumption of alcohol. Both are violations of the law
in the United Arab Emirates.
It was the first time she was made aware that she faced charges, Dalelv said.
She was allowed out on bail and has been staying since at the Norwegian Seaman's Center in Dubai.
Subsequently, she said
her manager advised her to tell the police it was voluntary sexual
intercourse and likely the whole issue would just go away. She followed
the advice and in one of the many hearings at the public prosecutor's
office, she made a statement saying it was voluntary.
Dalelv was then charged with making a false statement.
"That was my biggest regret because it wasn't voluntary. I just thought it would all go away," she told CNN.
But a representative of
Al Mana Interiors, who Dalelv worked for, told CNN that she was not
advised by her manager to say the sex was consensual but rather by a
police officer, who told her that in Arabic and it was translated into
English by her manager.
Dalelv said a month after the rape, while forced to stay in Dubai as the case wound through the legal system, she was fired.
The representative, who declined to be publicly identified, said
Dalelv and the Sudanese man she accused -- who is married with three
children -- have both been terminated by Al Mana Interiors for "drinking
alcohol at a staff conference that resulted in trouble with the
police."
A statement released
late Saturday by Al Mana Interiors spokesman Hani El Korek said the
company was sympathetic to Dalelv "during this very difficult
situation." It also said that company representatives were by her side
through the initial investigation, spending "days at both the police
station and the prosecutor's office to help win her release."
"Only when Ms. Dalelv
declined to have positive and constructive discussions about her
employment status, and ceased communication with her employer, was the
company forced to end our relationship with her," the statement said.
"The decision had
nothing to do with the rape allegation, and unfortunately neither Ms.
Dalelv nor her attorneys have chosen to contact the company to discuss
her employment status."
The company is owned by
Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, who made headlines earlier this year
after it was revealed that he has secretly married singer Janet Jackson
in 2012.
Dalelv was convicted
Tuesday on all three charges and was sentenced to one year in jail for
having unlawful sex, three months in jail for making a false statement
and one month for illegal consumption of alcohol.
CNN could not
immediately confirm what happened to the alleged perpetrator, who was
charged with public intoxication and having sex outside of marriage.
Dalelv is scheduled to
appear at the court on September 5 to begin the appeal proceedings.
Dalelv, who is not allowed to leave the UAE pending the appeal, said her
lawyers have instructed her to be prepared to go back into jail while
they submit a request for bail while the appeal is ongoing.
As a rule, CNN does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Dalelv went public with her story.
A Facebook page has been set up calling for Dalelv's release, as well as a petition urging the Norwegian government to take action on her behalf.
Her conviction may risk wider diplomatic repercussions.
Norwegian Foreign
Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide called his UAE counterpart, Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, on Friday night to protest Dalelv's
sentencing, a statement from the Norwegian ministry said.
"I emphasized that we
believe that the conviction is contrary to fundamental human rights,
including conventions that the UAE have officially ratified," Eide is
quoted as saying.
"Norway will continue to
do what we can to support her in what is a very difficult situation.
Our cooperation with the UAE is strong and good, but I conveyed to my
colleague that we are worried that this difficult case may disturb our
good relations if we do not reach a good solution in the near future."
Dalelv told CNN she received a call from Eide on Friday reiterating Norway's support.
While Dubai has a
reputation as a cosmopolitan city that boasts Western influences, where
visitors can drink at bars and restaurants and unmarried couples can
share hotel rooms, the country adheres to Islamic laws and traditions.
The United Arab Emirates
has been heavily criticized by rights groups, which say it condones
sexual violence against women. Human Rights Watch has called its record
"shameful," saying it must change the way it handles such cases.
In December 2012, a
British woman reported being raped by three men in Dubai. She was found
guilty of drinking alcohol without a license and fined.
In January 2010, a
British woman told authorities she was raped by an employee at a Dubai
hotel. She was charged with public intoxication and having sex outside
of marriage.
An Australian woman
reported in 2008 that she was drugged and gang-raped. She was convicted
of having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, and she was
sentenced to 11 months in prison.
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