(Newswire.net — June 14, 2016) — Doha, Qatar – A Dutch tourist faces deportation after she reported being drugged and sexually assaulted while on vacation in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera reports.
The Qatari court for ‘adultery’ sentenced 22 year-old Laura for having “illicit sex,” even though she claims she was drugged while partying at a nightclub in Doha.
After she returned from the dance floor, she drank the beverage she left on her table and start feeling drugged and ill. The next thing she knew, she had woken up in unknown apartment realizing she had been sexually assaulted.
After she escaped from the apartment, she went to the Doha police and reported the rape, only to be arrested for having sex outside wedlock.
On Monday, the Qatari court for ‘adultery’ sentenced her to a one-year suspended sentence and fined her 3,000 riyals ($824) for having “extramarital sex.” After paying the fine, she will be deported, the court decided.
The police also arrested a Syrian national named Omar Abdullah al-Hasan, the man she accused of raping her. However, he insisted the sex was consensual. In addition, he claimed that the woman had asked him for money.
Al-Hasan was sentenced to 100 lashes for having sex outside marriage and 40 additional lashes for consuming alcohol, which is also prohibited under Qatar’s strict laws. He also awaits deportation.
According to a Qatari official, the Dutch woman received a lenient sentence, had she been a Muslim woman, she would have ended up in prison for 5 years.
“No one can get out of such charges here in Qatar,” he was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
Laura’s mother told Dutch NOS television that she feels “so happy” to learn of her daughter’s release, saying Qatar authorities denied her any contact with Laura.
“I do not know yet when she gets home, but this is not most important,” she said, adding that “the most important is that she gets home… I am so happy.”
Qatar is a small but wealthy country, rich with oil. The incident comes ahead of Qatar’s preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2020, heating serious doubts about the country’s readiness to offer appropriate treatment to visitors from across the world.