Dubai pardons rape victim jailed for illicit sex

The United Arab Emirates has pardoned a Norwegian woman sentenced to jail for illicit sex after she reported being raped by a colleague while on a visit to Dubai.

Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, had been awaiting an appeal hearing of her 16-month sentence handed down this month after a court in the Gulf Arab emirate found her guilty of having sex outside marriage, drinking and making false statements.

“I warmly welcome that Marte Dalelv was pardoned by the ruler of Dubai. The fight for human rights for all continues,” Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, said.