Qatar convicts Dutch woman arrested for reporting rape

The 22-year-old Dutch woman who was detained in Qatar after she reported that she was raped, has now been convicted for adultery by a local court.

The woman was handed a one-year suspended sentence and fined $824.

She will be deported back to the Netherlands once the ruling is formalised.

Ambassador to the Netherlands in Qatar Yvette Burghgraef – Van Eechoud told Al Jazeera: “We will do everything we can to get her out of the country as soon as possible. Under the circumstances, Laura is doing fine.”

The woman – named as Laura – was arrested on March 14 for having sex outside marriage after she went to the police to report that she was raped.

She alleged that she was drugged in a hotel, taken to an unknown apartment and later raped.

Read more here: Dutch woman arrested in Qatar after reporting rape

However, the accused, who was also arrested, claimed that the sex had been consensual.

He has now also been convicted and will receive 100 lashes for having sex outside of marriage and another 40 lashes for public drunkenness.

He will also be deported out of the country.

The sentence handed down to the woman was “lenient”, a court official told Al Jazeera.

“Had she been a Muslim woman, she would have received at least five years in jail. No one can get out of such charges here in Qatar,” he said.

The Gulf countries have tough laws when it comes to ‘adultery’.

In 2013, a 24-year-old Norwegian woman was imprisoned for 16 months in the United Arab Emirates for indecent behaviour, perjury and alcohol consumption after she accused her boss of raping her.

She was later pardoned and allowed to return to Norway.