Emirati singer found guilty of rape

DUBAI: A famous Emirati singer lost his legal battle on Monday and will be jailed for three years after he was convicted of raping a 19-year-old Frenchwoman in his villa.
In July 2013, the Emirati singer, S.S., and his countryman friend, A.I., met the Frenchwoman at the poolside of a hotel at Jumeirah Beach Residence.
Then they invited her to a party at the singer’s villa in Al-Barsha, where the woman claimed that the two raped her. On Monday, the Dubai Cassation Court rejected S.S.’s appeal and upheld a three-year jail term against him.
A.I.’s one-year imprisonment was also confirmed.
The two accused had entered a not guilty plea and firmly refuted the Frenchwoman’s claims that they molested and raped her.
In November, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced S.S. and A.I. to three months in jail each for having consensual sex with the 19-year-old.
The primary court had modified the rape accusations that prosecutors leveled against the duo and convicted them of having consensual sex with the woman.
In April, the Dubai Appeal Court overturned the primary verdicts and lengthened the singer’s punishment to three years. A.I.’s three-month imprisonment term was lengthened to one year.
During Monday’s hearing, S.S.’s lawyer, Ali Musabbeh Dahi, argued before the Cassation Court: “The appellate court did not apply the law properly. The claimant was very drunk when the incident took place. When she visited my client’s residence, she had a handbag full of clothes … that clearly shows that she had planned to spend the night at the villa. This means that she had consensual sex with the duo … my client did not rape her.