Dutch woman jailed in Qatar after reporting rape convicted of 'illicit sex'

[Doc Holliday]

By Schams Elwazer and Paul Armstrong, CNN

Abu Dhabi (CNN)- A Dutch woman who has been in jail in Qatar since mid-March after she reported being raped, has been found guilty of "illicit consensual fornication" and being "drunk in a public place."

At a court hearing in Doha Monday, the 22-year old, whom CNN has identified only as Laura, was handed a one-year suspended sentence and placed on probation for three years for the sex-related charge, and fined 3,000 Qatari Riyals ($823) for being drunk outside a licensed location.

She'll almost certainly be deported immediately.

A Syrian man also appeared alongside her and was found guilty of the same crimes. He was sentenced to 100 lashes for the illicit fornication charge and a further 40 lashes for the illegal consumption of alcohol. As a Muslim he is not allowed to drink at all under Qatari law.

No mention was made of the rape accusation during proceedings. Neither defendant was present in court, in what was the third hearing in the case.

According to Brian Lokollo, a lawyer who was hired by the woman's family, Laura was at a hotel bar having drinks with a friend in the Qatari capital, but then had a drink that made her feel "very unwell."

She reportedly woke up in an unfamiliar location and realized "to her great horror" that she had been raped after her drink was spiked, Lokollo said.

When she reported the rape to the police, she herself was imprisoned.

The Dutch government and its embassy in Doha have been in close contact with Laura and her family in the Netherlands. Addressing reporters after the court hearing, the Dutch ambassador to Qatar, Yvette Burghgraef-van Eechoud, said: "We will do everything we can to get her out of the country as soon as possible to where she says she wants to go."

She added that Laura has appealed for her privacy to be respected.

Adultery a crime

"Fornication outside of marriage," is a crime in Qatar as well as other countries in the conservative Muslim Gulf regardless of the marital status of those involved.

According to Qatar's Penal Code 2004 (Law No. 11), "anyone who copulates with a female above sixteen without compulsion, duress or ruse is convicted to no more than seven years in prison. The same penalty is also imposed on the female for her consent."

In the nearby United Arab Emirates in 2013, a Norwegian woman who reported being raped by a colleague was sentenced to 16 months in jail, charged for having unlawful sex, making a false statement and the illegal consumption of alcohol.

Marte Deborah Dalelv was later pardoned by Dubai's ruler.

Dutch woman who reported rape in Qatar jailed

 

[Passionné]

A little background I have heard of and just checked. Unfortunately, in Islamic Law there is a sexual bias strongly favoring men. Not that "rape" is ever excusable, but defining an offense as rape is pretty questionable. In marriage a man has sexual rights to his wife at all times and no rape as such is possible. In Saudi Arabia I read there is nothing in the state legal system recognizing "rape" at all. Only Sharia Law covers this offense.

Here is what Sharia Law says:

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/rape-adultery.aspx

Rape and Adultery Why are rape victims often punished by Islamic courts as adulterers?

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 presumably develop a conscience afterwards) are actually confessing to having sex. If they or the accused happens to be married, then it is considered to be adultery.

.......

Note that when Muhammad set up his view in the Quran his own wife was accused of adultery and there were three witnesses. He decided there had to be four for the obvious reason.

.......

Quran Quran (2:282) - Establishes that a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man's in court (there is no "he said/she said" gridlock in Islam).
Quran (24:4) - "And those who accuse free women then do not bring four witnesses (to adultery), flog them..." Strictly speaking, this verse addresses adultery (revealed at the very time that Muhammad's favorite wife was being accused of adultery on the basis of only three witnesses coincidentally enough). However it is a part of the theological underpinning of the Sharia rule on rape, since if there are not four male witnesses, the rape "did not occur".
Quran (24:13) - "Why did they not bring four witnesses of it? But as they have not brought witnesses they are liars before Allah."
Quran (2:223) - "Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will..." There is no such thing as rape in marriage, as a man is permitted unrestricted sexual access to his wives.

In this case "Laura" is lucky she isn't going to prison and the rapist isn't going free. Without knowing the details of what happened and any proof that may have been involved it looks like she got a very moderate, maybe generous outcome considering typical judgments based on Sharia Law. 140 Lashes, if they are what we'd guess they are would be pretty devastating.

 

[rollingstone]

I would add that when visiting places like Qatar and UAE, even though alcohol is served at hotels (and the nightclubs, bars and restaurants in said hotel), you never confess to drinking to the police. The reason is that technically in order to be allowed to drink, you have to apply for and receive a liquor license. In this case, the license is so you can purchase and consume alcohol, not so that you can sell it. Its a piece of paperwork few people bother with, and is never an issue, unless you volunteer the information to a cop. So say you get mugged while drunk and are reporting it at the police station, you leave the fact that you were drunk out of the report.

In many muslim countries rape is a capital crime, primarily those that follow Napoleanic code. Persian gulf countries did not benefit from colonial rule the way many of their neighbors did, hence why the law of the desert is prevalent.

With regards to the 140 lashes, they are all not delivered at once. I'd say realistically we are looking at 3 installments, with opportunity to heal in between.

 

[EagerBeaver]

It seems like the Dutch woman will be deported and face no other punishment, while her Muslim friend who was convicted of "illicit consensual fornication" will receive lashes. This reminds me of the case I posted about that occurred in Indonesia. I will see if I can find that thread, which involved a couple who were found together.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Here is the Indonesian case. The couple received a vigorous caning:

http://merb.cc/vbulletin/showthread...d-In-Public&highlight=Indonesian+couple+caned

 

[The Snark]

There's a little more to this story than was reported by CNN. The Dutch woman had travelled to Qatar with a friend who was active on an escorting site, and it seems that the two of them were one of many foreign "sugar babies" who offer sexual favours in exchange for financial compensation from wealthy men in Doha.

When the Dutch woman's mother pressed her over the phone about what she was doing in Qatar, she responded: "I'm a prostitute."

A source speculated that the customer in question refused to pay after having sex, which led to the dispute.

Not that any of this excuses what may have been a rape, but it does add some important context.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/06/91871-2/
http://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2...elemaal-eerlijk-of-is-ze-toch-een-prostituee/

 

[hungry101]

She looks pretty hot. I don't care what she was there for this is an abomination but not surprising. Why didn't she stay home and set up in the red light district in the Low countries or head over to a German FKK? This is not as bad as the Dutch girls that voluntarily went over to the middle east to become brides of ISIS.

She is lucky that she wasn't stoned to death by those backward animals. Women should stay the hell out of that part of the world until that is reform. That ought to happen in the next 500 years or so.

 

[Passionné]

Women should stay the hell out of that part of the world until that is reform. That ought to happen in the next 500 years or so.

More likely to be 5,000 or 50,000 years sir.

You know what the ironic thing is about the episode. Now that we know she is a sex provider for pay she may have gotten more justice against the rapist under Sharia Law than if she had been in numerous Western countries where many still look down on her profession and might have reservations about convicting a guy over raping someone in her profession if it could be proven, which would be a touchy thing. Though she did face much more risk to herself in Sharia Law compared to Western countries.

 

[smuler]

Why didn't she stay home and set up in the red light district in the Low countries or head over to a German FKK?

Hungry..she's from Utrecht..

Utrecht had the distinction of being my personal best ever RLD I ever visited...EVER
It was closed by the government in the summer of 2013..by the idiots who are also trying to " cleanse " Amsterdam
Here is a picture of the houseboats in the RLD of Utrecht..you were able to drive by and pick your girl, or as I did , just walk boat to boat and conduct an interview :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1czSJyYg4

In all my travels of Europe, I have only seen ONE Dutch girl outside of Holland as a sex worker..She was at FKK Oase 2 summers ago

The girl that was arrested for prostitution I saw her picture..she's not pure Dutch..she's Moroccan

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[The Snark]

Why didn't she stay closer to home? Possibly because businessmen in the Gulf states have absurd amounts of money, and it would be easy for her to make five or six figures in a relatively short period. And because it's highly unlikely that any of her friends, colleagues or family would find out about what she was doing, which would not be the case if she worked in Netherlands or Germany.

Again: I'm not criticizing her for escorting, nor am I excusing the rape, nor am I suggesting the Qatari system of justice isn't barbaric. I'm just relaying information coming from Dutch news sites.

 

[EagerBeaver]

With regards to the 140 lashes, they are all not delivered at once. I'd say realistically we are looking at 3 installments, with opportunity to heal in between.

Rollingstone,

It's my understanding that in Qatar the lashes are administered with a whip whereas in Indonesia they are administered with a cane. If you are the lashee, is one method more preferable than the other? Is the lashee given any options or choices as far as the lashing method, or the pre-lashing meal? Also, are there 3 and 5 installment lashing plan options?

 

[bigbossman]

An Australian girl had same thing happen to her a few years back, not an SB or SP. For simply reporting her own rape at the hospital she was treated which she was urged not to do since it's illegal for her to do that), she was sentenced to jail along with her gang rapists.:crazy:

 

[hungry101]

More likely to be 5,000 or 50,000 years sir.

You know what the ironic thing is about the episode. Now that we know she is a sex provider for pay she may have gotten more justice against the rapist under Sharia Law than if she had been in numerous Western countries where many still look down on her profession and might have reservations about convicting a guy over raping someone in her profession if it could be proven, which would be a touchy thing. Though she did face much more risk to herself in Sharia Law compared to Western countries.

Yes, maybe more than 500 years but we will all be dead before we see a change. But who knows? Look at the religious fanatics in Japan? It just took a couple of A-Bombs and there are no more Samurai running around shooting "Banzai" and committing seppuku.

Thank you Smuler. So the the do-gooders are starting to impose their will on the people of Amsterdam? They have been enlightened over there, eh?

I was thinking about this. The funny thing is the guy raped a SP. Now why in the world would anyone try to rape an SP? Why not send her an e-mail with a few references and try to match calendars?

 

[rollingstone]

Of course I have to applaud Doc for his careful wording of the title, she of course went free after the conviction but the title is still technically correct because she was jailed before the trial.

With regards to the lashes delivered by a cane or otherwise, I am not entirely certain. I have heard of the use of the cane in Saudi Arabia as well, but I don't know if that is on a case by case basis or not.

Qatar, UAE and Bahrain to a lesser degree are all serviced by European SPs. I often joked that it was easier to see French, German or Dutch SP in Dubai than in their home countries, in which the market is dominated by girls from Brazil, Russia, Romania...etc. Most of the German/Belgian HDH agencies I dealt with will fly women to the aforementioned countries (with enough deposit) and in the case of Dubai they will tour as well. However if she was not part of an agency and did not arrange prebookings and deposits, then working hotel bars can be risky. Usually those who do work for someone who has already made 'arrangements' with the local police.

Hungry thank you for your suggestion of nuking the middle east. All of us here appreciate it. We will continue to enjoy our pick of European ladies who are thrilled to fly in to see us.

Also I take issue with people quoting Koranic verses and presenting it as law when this is very different from actual law. Most Muslim countries don't implement Sharia law, or implement it only for civil cases. In the Indonesian article EB linked its easy to overlook the last paragraph "Banda Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to implement Sharia Law, which was first introduced in 2003 following the province’s awarding of special autonomy status". Even in this case in Qatar, she was not judged according to that law because her confession to adultery meant she would have received 100 lashes as well. But she didn't, she was released. I have no sympathy for the guy who stiffed her but he is the only one getting the 'sharia' treatment.

 

[hungry101]

Now where the hell did I suggest nuking the middle east? As wonderful a place as it is with all those peace loving and understanding people there...please tell me where I suggested nuking that &*^%-hole that you apparently come from?