Woman claiming rape was jailed for adultery

A French businesswoman went to Dubai Police in 2003 and reported that she had been attacked by three men who offered to give her a ride from a nightclub. The divorced mother of one, a marketing executive from Brive, had been celebrating her 39th birthday and accepted the offer of a lift home. But instead of driving to her hotel, she said, the men drove to a secluded district of the city and raped her for several hours.

She reported the attack the following day. But when police questioned the alleged attackers, the men claimed she was a prostitute. Police questioned the woman again and arrested her on adultery charges. She was held for five days before being released on bail. She was placed under house arrest at her hotel while the case progressed through the courts. Her lawyers entered a plea of not guilty in a lower court but were refused permission to have a criminal court hear her allegation that she had been raped.

She was allowed to leave the country but the status of her case and circumstances of her release were not clear.