A Norwegian woman in a rape case in Dubai has been pardoned and allowed to fly home after having been convicted of extra-marital sex in the Muslim state.
Marte Dalelv was sentenced to 16-months in prison after she was tried for having sex outside of marriage when she reported she had been raped.
The 24-year-old went public with her story in the hope of drawing enough attention to her case.
The Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth-Eide said this morning that her passport had been returned to her and that she was allowed to leave the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member.
The alleged incident occurred on March 6th when Ms. Dalelv who works for an interior design firm in Qatar was on a work trip with a group of colleagues in Dubai.
On the last day of the business trip she joined them for drinks and later asked one of her male colleagues to escort her up to her hotel room.
Speaking to Reuters she described what she alleges happened next.
"(He was) trying to convince me to come in to his room and again I said 'no' and that's when he start pulling my bag trying to drag me to his room" she said.
"So I just thought I need to calm the situation down, so I walked in with him and I sat down and wanted to drink my bottle of water; I thought I would finish this water and find my room by myself. That's the last thing I remember".
"And the following morning I woke up on my stomach, my clothes were off and I was being raped."
She was sentenced to 16-months in prison in the Muslim state
Following the alleged incident, Ms. Dalelv immediately went down to the hotel reception and asked them to call the police.
A group of policemen arrived and took a statement from Ms. Dalelv and the alleged rapist, before they were both taken to the Bur Dubai police station.
She was then held for 4 days in a Dubai prison until contact was made with the Norwegian consulate and her bail was arranged.
Her alleged attacker received a sentence of a year in prison. However, Ms Dalelv did not know if he has appealed.
Ms. Dalelv said she was disappointed with the way the judicial system in Dubai deals with rape cases.
"I am very surprised. We have a DNA report, we have a medical report and we have a witness" she said.
"It is also being clarified and it has been proved that he has been lying the whole time in court in front of the judge and still they did not believe me, that was very shocking."
