Last March interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv was raped while on a business trip to Dubai, so she reported it to the police.
The result … she was arrested, put on trail, and then sentenced this week to 16 months in jail … Why? Well basically because she was guilty of having sex outside of marriage and in Dubai that gets you a jail sentence. But .. but … she was raped, it was not exactly her decision. True, but according to Islamic sharia law, unless you can provide four (yes count them … four) male witnesses, its not rape, just a confession of sex outside of marriage.
Really? … yes really, the BBC reports the details …
The sentence has been condemned by Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who is quoted as saying that it “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and was “highly problematic from a human rights perspective”.
The Norwegian authorities are reportedly trying to contact the authorities in Dubai about the situation.
The London-based Emirates Centre for Human Rights called on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to which Dubai belongs, to quash Ms Dalelv’s conviction.
It said the UAE’s claims that it is attempting to end discrimination against women was undermined by a legal system that “prohibits the achievement of justice for cases of sexual violence against women”.
Currently, the law stipulates that, to gain a rape conviction, there must either be a confession or for four adult male witnesses to the crime.
This bat-shit immoral outcome is what happens when you lean upon a religious text compiled in the 7th century for guidance on how to behave instead of using reason or for that matter a bit of fracking common sense.
In other words depend upon the guidance in the quran and the associated hadiths and you find that rape is not a problem for those that commit it, as long as you don’t admit doing it, and make sure that nobody can see you. If you are the victim, just be damn sure you are silent and never say anything because justice is not an option.
Is this a unique incident? Nope, it is a rather common problem within the Islamic world, violence and rape is endemic, but because it does not officially happen … its not a problem.
This is not the worse possible outcome, but rather is what happens when the supposed moderates deal with a charge of rape. It can indeed get even worse at the hands of fanatics, there was an incident in which a 13 year old girl was raped in Somalia, when she complained to the Islamic authorities, she was put on trial and stoned to death, while her rapist walked free.
The BBC reports the details … “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me,” she said, according to the man who wanted to remain anonymous. A few minutes later, more than 50 men threw stones. … Numerous eye-witnesses say she was forced into a hole, buried up to her neck then pelted with stones until she died in front of more than 1,000 people last week.”
Some might wonder why I criticise beliefs that are not actually true? Well this is why, because unless we throw a spotlight upon it all, intolerance, injustice, violence and belief driven murder will continue to prevail. Believing stuff that is not actually true is not harmless, there are real consequences.