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UAE: Attorney general seeks death penalty for rape

Dubai - The crime of rape is alien to UAE society, Dubai's attorney general stressed, pledging to push for maximum punishment against perpetrators.

"Dubai Public Prosecution will not spare any effort, whatsoever, to combat the crime of rape or any other crime of the same nature. Rape is an alien to the UAE society," attorney general Essam Eisa Al Humaidan said yesterday.

His statement came in light of the case involving an Arab national recently referred to the Dubai Court of First Instance for luring a jobseeker to his flat and raping her. Rape threatens society's stability and security at a very basic level, he added.

Prosecution case

"Prosecutors have charged the suspect with having sex with the victim against her will and asked the court to impose a death sentence on him. The woman came to the country on a visit visa and was looking for a job when the incident happened in January 2012," chief prosecutor Yousuf Mohammad Foulad, head of Deira Prosecution, said.

Foulad said the woman was searching for a job when she read a newspaper advertisement about a secretarial job. She called up a phone number highlighted in the advertisement and was called by the suspect for an interview.

The woman agreed to attend the interview convinced that the suspect wanted to test her competency and experience.

"Chief prosecutor Mohammad Hussain Al Hammadi, head of Naif Prosecution, and prosecutor Khalid Abdullah Shuhail conducted the investigations that revealed the woman went for the interview in a flat in Naif area," Foulad said.

Forensic reports

"The minute she entered the flat, he locked up the door from inside and started asking her about her qualifications and secretarial experience. The woman was about to leave the flat when the suspect flirted with her; he jumped on her and pushed her back. He then raped her although she tried to resist him and cried for help," Foulad said.

The suspect was referred to court After Al Hammadi and Shuhail heard statements of witnesses, questioned the suspect and reviewed forensic reports. He is expected to appear in court soon.

Source: GulfNews.com, March 2, 2012

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