DUBAI: Women in the United Arab Emirates lament the lenient sentences against Emirati men accused of raping women in the country. Now, as a new case appears, women in the country are hopeful that justice will be meted out by a court. “It needs to happen in order to send a message to Emirati citizens that they cannot continue to assault and rape women with impunity,” women's rights activist and social worker Aziza AbdelHamed told Bikyamasr.com on Friday. The case pits a 24-year-old Emirati student, named in local media as S.S., against a 38-year-old Filipina woman, J.A., who said he raped her in the kitchen at her flat. The woman says that the man had come to the flat after his girlfriend broke up with him and had been in a talking mood, before he attacked and raped her. The man says no such incident took place. “No I did not rape her. I rented the flat for her and other Filipinas to live there. J.A. had borrowed Dh3,000 from me earlier... on that evening, I went to collect my money from her," said S.S. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance this week. According to the accusations, prosecutors said the defendant made J.A. feel that he needed a close friend to share his sorrows after his girlfriend ditched him. Court records said that after the two had been talking for a while the man asked J.A. to hug him, but when she refused, asking him to leave instead, S.S. forced himself on her. The Filipina testified that she agreed to listen to S.S., who claimed he needed someone he could talk to share his problems. “His girlfriend J. lived with us for a while but she moved out. I volunteered to listen to him and we sat in the kitchen. All my roommates were asleep. I asked him to give J. some time until she cools off … then I asked him to leave because I needed to sleep. He grabbed my arm and asked me to hug him … but I pushed him away. He got outraged and threatened to beat me. He pushed me to a corner but I cried and begged him to leave me … then he raped me by force. He left the flat and left me in a hysterical condition," claimed J.A. Violent crimes against women in the UAE are not uncommon, but women in the country argue police do too little when women come forward, often demanding to know what they said, or what they were wearing before filing a case against the perpetrator. “We need a precedent. If this man gets off without a lengthy jail term, it will be another dark time for this country, which claims to be modern,” added AbdelHamed.
