When Norwegian Marte Deborah Dalelv was convicted this month of adultery, illegal alcohol consumption and falsely reporting rape in Dubai, vitriolic attacks were unleashed from all sides attacking the UAE’s legal system.
Such Western media reports on Marte’s case are typical of Dubai-bashing and form part of a colourful narrative of numerous expats who had fallen on the wrong side of the UAE’s laws.
In May, Dubai’s highest court confirmed the conviction of British recruitment executive Rebecca Blake and Irishman Conor McRedmond for having sex in a Dubai taxi’s backseat.
In April 2012, a Briton and another man from Seychelles were convicted of having sex under a tree following a booze-driven party. A sensational white-collar sex crime involved Britons Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer who were jailed in 2008 for their Dubai beach romp that came after a marathon drinking brunch session. The list of cases involving sex-outside-marriage among expatriates in the UAE goes on. The alarming pile up had even prompted the British Embassy in Dubai to issue a list of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for tourists and expats working in the UAE.
But, the point to note here is that each time a high-profile case emerges, Western media is quick to attack Sharia and Dubai’s alleged ‘archaic’ laws. The Guardian reported on July 22: “The sentence against Dalelv has caused widespread outrage in the West and highlighted the frequent clash between Dubai’s western-friendly image and its Islamic legal code, or Sharia law.”
On July 21, Toronto Star reported: “The news of her case ... is raising questions about the judicial system in the Gulf state, which lures large numbers of expatriates and tourists with the promise of a Western lifestyle but still has strict, but little-known, laws on sex and alcohol.”
Emirati lawyer Mohammad Al Suwaidi said such attacks are unfair and ill informed. “The UAE law is simple: Sex outside marriage is adultery and is punishable. If it were Sharia law, the guilty party would have been given 100 lashes, or death if the guilty party is married,” he said.
The UAE Penal Code, under which many crimes against honour are tried, prescribes a minimum of one year in jail for sex outside marriage. The death penalty is prescribed for rape where a victim is under 14 and dies (Penal Code, Article 357).
Cultural insensitivity?
So what is the reason behind a spike in sex crimes involving expats? Some legal experts say the rise could be blamed on ignorance. Dubai is home to an extreme diversity of cultures from a cocktail of about 200 nationalities.
“But ignorance of the law is not a defence,” said Badr Abdullah, an Emirati lawyer. “The UAE is an open country. Some people think these acts (indecency) are permissible here as they are decriminalised in their countries. Our judges base their decisions on evidence, including forensic lab reports and witness testimonies, not on media wrath (arising from such decisions).”
Another lawyer however disagreed. “It’s [what happens] when people are treated better and find more freedom,” said Mansour Abdullah Al Zarouni of Al Insaf Advocates. “Human nature is such that when you give him freedom, he asks for more.”
He said many visitors come to the UAE with the wrong notion of tourism. For some, he said, tourism means just sex and alcohol. Al Zarouni said while UAE law respects freedom and privacy of individuals, it does not condone sex outside marriage.
Al Zarouni’s argument would make sense to many. Take the example of the 24-year-old Norwegian. The case reached the law-enforcement authorities after Dalelv approached police complaining she was raped by her 33-year-old Sudanese colleague after she spent a night inside his hotel room. It emerged later that Dalelv had been drinking with her male colleague and retired to his room. Later, according to Dalelv’s statement to police, she slept in his bed in her undergarments while the man slept on the couch. What happened next is disputed by Dalelv and the man and is recorded in police and prosecution files.
So in this case, the lawyer pointed out, it wasn’t Dubai Police who busted the duo in their hotel room. Dalelv was sentenced to 16 months jail while the Sudanese man was given 13 months prison. However she was pardoned on July 22.
So could it be down to a clash of cultures? “No,” said Al Suwaidi, a Western-educated Emirati lawyer. “It’s about respect for the law of the land you’re in, the same way European law penalises those who deny the Holocaust or Singaporean law punishes people caught chewing gum (without a prescription).”
“Ms Dalelv had unfairly misused the western media’s ignorance to fuel attacks on the UAE’s legal system, even after she was pardoned.”
Many felt that the pardon was undeserved, he said.
