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Kamran Jebreili/AP/PA

Dutch woman convicted of adultery after reporting rape in Qatar

The male defendant in the case was sentenced to 140 lashes, but he will not serve any jail time.

A DOHA COURT has convicted a Dutch woman of adultery and handed her a one-year suspended sentence after she reported being raped while on holiday in Qatar.

The 22-year-old woman, known only as Laura and who was not in court, was also fined 3,000 Qatari riyals, or €710 euros, and will be deported once she pays the fine, court officials said.

She had denied the charge against her.

The male defendant, said by a court official to be Syrian and named as Omar Abdullah al-Hasan, was sentenced to 100 lashes for ‘illicit sex’ and 40 lashes for consuming alcohol.

No jail time 

Hasan, who was also not in court, will undergo a medical examination to see if he is fit enough to withstand his punishment.

He will not serve any time in jail, but will also be deported once he has been punished.

The Dutch ambassador to Qatar Yvette Burghgraef-van Eechoud, who was present in a packed courtroom, told reporters the embassy would help Laura leave Qatar.

“We will do everything to get her out of the country as soon as possible to where she wants to go,” said Eechoud.

The envoy added that she expected Laura to leave Qatar, which will host the football World Cup in 2022, within the next few days.

The ambassador added that she had spoken to Laura yesterday and said that “under the circumstances she was doing fine”.

Back in the Netherlands, Laura’s mother said she had not yet spoken to her daughter, but was “so happy” at the news of her release.

“I do not know yet when she gets home, but this is not most important,” she told the Dutch television NOS website.

“The most important is that she gets home… I am so happy,” she said.

Drugged

Laura was arrested on March 14 and has since been held in custody.

Her lawyer previously said that the incident happened after she had visited a Doha hotel.

“She went dancing but when she returned to the table after the first sip of her drink, she realised that” she had been drugged, Brian Lokollo has said.

“She really didn’t feel very well,” he added.

The young woman remembers nothing more until the following morning when she woke up in a totally unfamiliar apartment “and realised to her great horror, that she had been raped,” he said.

The male defendant had insisted that their night together had been consensual and that the woman had even asked for money.

Adultery, or illicit sex, is treated as a serious crime in the conservative Gulf emirate.

But the case provoked an international outcry with many appalled by the treatment of an alleged rape victim and an online campaign using the #freelaura hashtag to try and draw attention to the Dutch woman’s imprisonment.

- © AFP 2016.

Read: Dutch woman held in Qatar after making rape complaint>

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    Mute Chelsea Berry
    Favourite Chelsea Berry
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    Mar 30th 2013, 8:09 AM

    Decided since I was 8 i wanted to donate all organs. I rarely drink , don’t smoke or do drugs , I’m very healthy, never been gravely ill, excellent sight , good heart, lifeguard so lungs are swimmers lungs etc. I would be delighted to give all them away. Card signed and in my purse by myself and my mother. No if buts or ands if I pass away , god for bid.

    50
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    Mute Ted Power
    Favourite Ted Power
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    Mar 30th 2013, 9:27 AM

    I wasn’t a Chelsea fan before reading this article but I’ve had a change of heart ;)

    11
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    Mute johnbeckett
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    Mar 30th 2013, 9:18 AM

    A friend of mine died tragically about 8 years ago and 5 people were saved with her organs. I needed and received a kidney in 2010 and while most of us don’t put too much thought into the whole thing, it’s incredible how life changing the selfless act of carrying a donor card can be for some desperately ill people. If the worst happens, I can’t think of a better legacy to leave behind!

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    Mute Tracey Coughlan
    Favourite Tracey Coughlan
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    Mar 30th 2013, 8:33 AM

    Don’t forget to donate blood too. It can save a life. I’m giving blood since I was 18 …… You never know you could be on the receiving end I too want to donate my organs. Why waste them in the earth.

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    Mute Aoife Dooley
    Favourite Aoife Dooley
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    Mar 30th 2013, 9:44 AM

    IMO Organ donation should be an opt-out process.
    Some people just don’t carry cards, etc. So if someone felt strongly about not donating they can carry an opt-out card instead. That way more lives could be saved.

    22
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    Mute dubdon
    Favourite dubdon
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    Mar 30th 2013, 8:56 AM

    Chelsea do u go out every night dressed like that???

    Seriously though I think the opt out rather than the opt in donor system should be used. How many people would refuse a donated organ to keep them alive while at the same time not offering the donation themselves should the worst happen???

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    Mute Damian O'Brien
    Favourite Damian O'Brien
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    Mar 30th 2013, 9:30 AM

    They can take all or any of me if its of any use, and can help someone.

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    Mute Ben Fede
    Favourite Ben Fede
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    Mar 30th 2013, 11:48 AM

    I’d be happy to donate organs, or even blood for that matter but the gay blood ban is still going strong. Sorry to say that someone who desparately needs the blood or organs will be denied.

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    Mute Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Favourite Cliodhna O'Sullivan
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    Mar 30th 2013, 12:29 PM

    That is one of the biggest problems with donation in this country, that and people who lived in the UK in the 90′s not being able to donate blood or bone products.
    They do such stringent tests on blood ect anyway no one should be ruled out anymore, and especially not because of their sexual orientation.

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    Mute Paul Shanahan
    Favourite Paul Shanahan
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    Mar 30th 2013, 9:57 AM

    The lottery and public funded organ donor awareness week is more a fundraising exercise for the kidney assoc than improving organ donation.
    If the ika believe that improving organ donation retrieval will improve by hiring coordination staff in our hospitals then here’s an idea, identify a large hospital with low organ retrieval and install a member of staff whose sole purpose it is to increase organ donation. This can be done on a trial basis and can be used to prove that it can be rolled out in other hospitals.
    Every year we listen to murphy waffling on about organ donation with his opinion changing with each threat to the lucrative amounts of money the ika pull in from donation week.
    A donation card is a useful as used toilet paper.
    If people are serious about organ donation they would be better off lobbying the government to correct failed policy in our hospitals rather than giving money to the ika. The ika have repeatedly failed in this area.
    How much do the ika receive each year to promote awareness?
    How much do the ika spend on donor awareness each year?
    I think you will find a rather large gap between the 2!
    Of course the other charities who claim to have an interest are no better, leaving the “campaign” to the tired and failed ika.

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    Mute Declan Donnelly
    Favourite Declan Donnelly
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    Mar 30th 2013, 8:48 AM

    Why is there a low turn out on organ donations Is that because of trust !

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    Mute Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Favourite Cliodhna O'Sullivan
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    Mar 30th 2013, 12:36 PM

    It’s because it’s very difficult to ask a family who see their loved one on life support to give up hope on them coming out of icu alive to make a decision that will see that little bit of hope gone forever.
    An organ transplant coordinator and the intensive care anaesthetics teams in this country have very difficult jobs at times like this, they walk tightropes where one wrong word or gesture is enough for family members not to consent.

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    Mute Mag Rinne
    Favourite Mag Rinne
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    Mar 31st 2013, 3:08 PM

    I believe that more educational programs for promoting organ donation should be in school systemespeciallyaimed at new teen drivers.

    Also I think that the idea of a hospital not accepting some perfectly good organs due to person commiting suicide is absurd. I can understand them not taking organs from person that died from a disease or something like that. However, if the body is received immediately (24hrs) following death and the organs have not been compromised then why can the organs not be accepted?Yes organs need to be perfused (meaning filled with blood and vital fluids) at time of transplant. So if this is possible I believe family members should be advised and asked for donation.

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