Abu Dhabi - A Dutch woman who reported being raped while on holiday in Qatar has been jailed since mid-March and could face charges of adultery. The 22-year-old woman, whom CNN has identified only as Laura, was at a hotel bar having drinks with a friend, but then had a drink that made her feel "very unwell.
She reportedly woke up in an unfamiliar location and realized "to her great horror" that she had been raped after her drink was spiked, Lokollo said. When she reported the rape to the police, she herself was imprisoned.
"I do not know what the charges are. To my knowledge she is being held in custody because she reported that she was raped," Lokollo told CNN Sunday. According to Lokollo, she is due to appear before a judge Monday in the Qatari capital where the official charges will be heard for the first time.
The Dutch government and its embassy in Doha are in close contact with the defendant and her family in the Netherlands, according to a statement from the embassy. Adultery," or "fornication outside of marriage," is a crime in Qatar as well as other countries in the conservative Muslim Gulf regardless of the marital status of those involved.
According to Qatar's Penal Code of 2004 (Law No. 11), "anyone who copulates with a female above sixteen without compulsion, duress or ruse is convicted to no more than seven years in prison. The same penalty is also imposed on the female for her consent. "
In the nearby United Arab Emirates in 2013, a Norwegian woman who reported being raped by a colleague was sentenced to 16 months in jail, charged for having unlawful sex, making a false statement and the illegal consumption of alcohol. Marte Deborah Dalelv was later pardoned by Dubai's ruler.
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