When Sodom was restored
Very few crime stories of a similar nature get published in our local newspapers. Until they are picked up by the international media, that is. The story of a 15-year old Swiss-French victim of homosexual rape, Alexandre Robert, made big headlines all over the world. Here, it got shyly buried between inadequately reported crime stories, with victims and criminals usually referred to by their initials only.
Homosexual rape happens everywhere, bravely conceded the victim’s mother, Mrs Veronique Robert. Except the tendency to criminalise the victim seems to be something exclusive to the Gulf – and in this case, Dubai.
Mrs Robert had set up a website urging people to boycott Dubai. Honestly, she has every reason to be angry, especially that one of the rapists, a 36-year old man who has been described as a “repeat offender”, turned out to be HIV positive. This fact, it seems, was deliberately concealed from the victim’s mother, delaying by that any possible early treatment of her son. The rapist also confessed to being drunk while committing the crime. How the authorities had turned a blind eye to such a violation makes one wonder about the mental stability of those who run the judiciary in this country. More often than not, laws and punishment are extremely inconsistent.
Muslims in the UAE are supposedly prohibited from purchasing or consuming alcohol. In fact, for non-Muslims to legally purchase or consume alcohol, they will need to obtain an Alcohol License – something which is reportedly unavailable for Muslims. If found to be drunk, a Muslim is said to face up to 80 lashes, a jail term, and a hefty fine. The 36-year old, HIV positive rapist was drunk when committing his ugly crime, yet there was no mention of that in court. He, as well as his 18-year old accomplice, were sentenced to 15 years in jail only. No life sentence. No naming and shaming; a practice which expatriates are often subjected to, especially if they happen to be Asians. And no lashings either.
This reminds me of something that had happened here two years ago. Police forces raided a chalet in the Ghantout area between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where a “mass homosexual wedding” was taking place. Those individuals who had engaged in consensual acts of homosexuality were to be punished by government-ordered psychological and male-hormone treatments; lashings; and a five-year jail term. Whether or not they had been subjected to either or all of the aforementioned ‘disciplinary measures’ remains unknown.
This raises a question in my mind: when it was consensual, the violators were treated more harshly by the authorities. I am afraid someone, somewhere is sending out the wrong message here. Homosexual rapists, however, got away with less than a life-sentence; no lashings; and no psychological or hormone treatments. And now, I shall express my amazement in the most common, unadorned language: What the f**k?
It is worth mentioning that rape in Shariah falls under the Hirabah provision. Hirabah can be defined as “terrorism”, “unlawful warfare”, “act that involves coercion or force, by instilling fear” and “any act that threatens the security and stability of society at large”. Robbery, piracy, and rape are some of the crimes that fall under Hirabah, and – according to Shariah – are punishable by death.
I wonder if it makes a difference if the rape victim is a male?
Now that Dubai is not a strict, Shariah-implementing emirate, one would think that Saudi Arabia would at least punish rapists according to Shariah law, without having to blame the victims. Is it surprising at all that an equally disturbing – if not worse – rape incident in the Kingdom had made international headlines for the same reason: criminalising and punishing the victims. The scandalous way in which the Saudi judiciary had handled the rape case has brought in pressing calls for reforms. Unfortunately, Dubai has managed to escape the sounding alarms by its glamour and bling-bling effect.
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Excellent article, Mira. I am proud of you for writing it.
I am trying to figure out why consensual homosexual acts would be treated more harshly than homosexual rape. Here’s my guess.
When the acts are consensual, you could pretend that your society is still perfect, and that these few individuals are somehow outside the norms of your puritanical society. Therefore, they have to be punished harshly because they threaten the common good.
But if it is rape that we’re talking about, then that act of rape points to something very wrong in the society, a society which causes people to drink and to rape. The act points to a certain deviancy that may be refelective of deeper social problems. The society that wants to continue thinking highly of itself may tend to brush such acts under the table, so as not to provoke too deep of an inquiry.
One of the hallmarks of a just society is its ability to look at itself, warts and all, and even more importantly, to face the problems head on with new ideas, and bold action.
Esra’a – Thanks for the encouraging comment
Nissim – Your comment is right on the spot.
I remember the victim, Alexandre, mentioning in one of the articles that immediately after the crime had taken place, he went to a nearby police station to file a complaint. He was inspected by a police-doctor, who accused Alexandre of being a homosexual.
Here, people are quick to point an accusing finger at “foreigners”, who have supposedly arrived here with their cultural baggage to deliberately corrupt an otherwise ideal society. Alexandre was just another victim of this mentality.
This posting is about rape, and all rape is a hideous crime.
Rape should incur a very very harsh penalty whether the rape is done to a man or woman, or by a man or woman.
Lets take away the UAE’s shocking human rights treatment to homosexuals.
This in itself is one reason to boycott Dubai.
Think of how they would have treated Alexandre if he had actually been gay as well. It does not bear thinking about.
It is actually WORSE than a cover up and a rape.
(1) Alexandre and his friend were lured to the trap, the car, by someone they knew: a teen like Alexandre and not an adult: no accident: lure by familiar.
(2) There were two others in the car waiting for the quarry: no accident: set trap.
(3) One of the adults had HIV and was already known in the Dubai justice system as a criminal and as HIV+: no accident: necessarily an active regular to more than one “scene”.
(4) The feeding was off Alexandre and not his friend: a precision that was certainly no accident!
Three on one meal. Not a manna from heaven as an opportunistic meal, but a prepared entrée.
There was a practiced teen procurer in concert with regular hunters making a team of predators of human warm body quarry. The teen’s job was to identify and set up victims and offer a usually desirable “free ride”. This was one hunt in a series of regular organized experienced predations. The regular fare was supplemented by trapping tourist delicacies.
Such regular sexual predation was necessarily hidden from us, “in good taste”, by the news and the lawyers. Liars and Cowards? Well, what else is news. Only what the mother made happen!
The website http://www.boycottdubai was ended as the mother was “satisfied”. I shall never trust Dubai.
Hey Mira
First of all I congratulate you for a well-written and well-expressed article, very nice to see someone in Dubai has brains. Anyways,in regards of the rape I think that it was mainly covered for two reasons; one very obvious reason is that Dubai would do anything to keep tourists coming(No tourists no money, economy goes down the toilet), therefore covering a story like this is vital for them. Second reason is that the rapist/s could have been of a well-known family, and sadly you know how those things go around in the UAE.
Please note that I am not mentioning these two reasons to justify the act but only to shed light on why a country or an authority would do something so shameful as to cover up a rape.
I am both a PR and an International studies student, and looking at how the country dealt with this issue was sad. You never cover up your mistakes because eventually someone will do it for you, instead you deal with your mistakes and misfortune, this is the way to go about it.
Also, in regards of the gay wedding in Ghantoot, human rights was the reason why those sentences were not carried out. All in all that was a f**ked up situation
Sorry if I have offended anyone! Thank you!