In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an 18 year old Muslim woman “LH” has been charged with the “crime” of consensual sex, after claiming that she was raped by 6 men.  In the UAE, if a Muslim woman is found guilty of the crime of consensual sex, according to the UAE newspaper “The National,” states that she would “face lashes and a maximum sentence of life in prison.”

“LH” went to file charges against 6 men for rape after being confronted and beaten by her brother for “talking to other men.”  “LH” has now withdrawn the charges of rape, after being charged with the criminal charge of “consensual sex.”   It is up to the court to decide whether to drop the criminal charge of “consensual sex,” or reduce the criminal charge to “deception” which carries a prison sentence of 6 months to two years.

The report by the National newspaper in UAE states that none of the charges have been dropped at this time.  The report describes court proceedings of a case where a man allegedly consensual sex with “LH,” then called five of his male friends to rape “LH.”  One of the accused rapists, a 19 year old man, laughed at “LH” as she pleaded with the judge to allow her to drop the rape charges.

See the complete news report by the National Newspaper.

The National newspaper also released an editorial on May 18, 2010 “Rape victims are not the criminals,” which stated that “The case is not unprecedented: when a woman reports rape or other abuse, she frequently finds herself in further trouble… More than half of the women who responded to a survey for The National earlier this year said they would not report a rape to police, not only out of shame but also out of distrust of the system itself.”

In January 2010, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) reported on a 23 year old British Muslim woman who was raped and then charged with the crime of “illegal sex” and put in jail.  On April 21, 2010, the Daily Telegraph reported on the case of British woman Charlotte Adams who was convicted of the crime of “indecency” for giving someone a kiss on the cheek, and was sentenced to jail for one month and fined.

In March 2010, Epoch Times reported on the case of an Australia woman Amanda who was raped, and then was convicted of “adultery” and jailed for 12 months. The report quoted another National newspaper interview with a UK rape counselor that “there was ‘no bigger deterrent’ to coming forward to make a rape allegation than the fear of a potential prosecution.”  Human Rights Watch’s Nadya Khalife has criticized the UAE on its “shameful record on rape.”

According to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), “some women’s rights advocates argue that as along as UAE legislates through a personal status code and gender discrimination is built into citizenship laws, women cannot have full rights.”   Time Out Dubai recently reported that only 25 percent of Emirati women work due to discrimination and social pressures against women in the workplace.

While women continue to live under such conditions in the UAE, on May 27, 2010, the U.S. film “Sex and the City 2” will be released in theaters.  The film’s story is written to take place UAE, but the UAE authorities would not allow filming of it in their country, and it had to be filmed in Morocco. The UAE is considering banning the film.

The Hollywood Reporter issued an initial review of the film as “anti-Muslim,” stating that the characters “run up against the puritanical and misogynistic culture of the Middle East.  The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment, but there’s something bracing about the film’s saucy political incorrectness. Or is it politically correct? SATC 2 is at once proudly feminist and blatantly anti-Muslim, which means that it might confound liberal viewers.”

We would like to hear from Muslim readers on this topic.  Please email your comments at info@realcourage.org

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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) calls for the support for our unqualified, universal human rights for woman and all people.  We urge all those who would defy such universal human rights, to choose instead to be responsible for equality and liberty.