That horror show needs to be boycotted, and quickly.

but I have no idea why any woman would go to a country so tightly controlled by religion.

How could anyone get on your case? I'm sure you may get a couple "why would any woman want to come to the US" but those people are delusional. In those countries, it is ALWAYS the womans fault. And if youre raped and married, to them you just committed adultery. Absolutely ridiculous. Even our most rabid right wingers in the US wouldnt go that far, IMO.

but when it comes right down to it, the three Abrahamic religions are very mysoginistic. Those countries are right where the religious right want to take us.

and are we really turning this back into a discussion about the poor decision of a woman - which implies she is culpable? Shouldn't we rather be discussing the situation - and the conundrum it presents - should professional women be required to take business trips to such places where women are at such risk? And simultaneously, should companies limit the professional opportunities of women to pursue such business interests when such a risk exists?

There are serious discussions to be had on this topic. I just don't think that blaming her (per the implied blame in the question of 'why she would go to a country....) for being there. I doubt that was your intent - but it is (unintentionally) implied.

But there are just some areas in the world I would not go as a man. I am an atheist, and they don't take kindly to my kind over there, either. It isn't her fault for sure, but certain cultures consider women only slightly better than cattle.

That would make sense from their point of view, seeing western women as a threat to their way of life.

Kim Kardashian is in Dubai, where she is doing the important, urgent work of launching a fragrance and attending the opening of a milkshake store. But since Kim had a little free time, and simply loathes showing off her face and body, she and her mother went shopping for abayas and burqas. And niqabs. Does this mean Islamic attire is sexy now? Kim was also impressed with the ladies in the UAE; she tweeted: "Seriously the woman in Dubai are sooo gorgeous!!! I'm sure @RobKardashian is so jealous he didn't come w me! WOW these woman are beautiful!" [E!]

http://jezebel.com/5849797/kim-kardashian-goes-burqa-shopping-in-dubai


They let Stanky Skanky in. If that ain't a hoot.

Unless the perp allows four male witnesses, I suppose.

I wouldn't go there for anything.

ETA : forgot link. http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1050.html#safety

Incidents of verbal and physical harassment as well as isolated cases involving assault of expatriate women have occurred, including some incidents of harassment by taxi drivers. On more than one occasion, expatriate females have been sexually assaulted while walking alone through underground pedestrian walkways near the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Female travelers should keep in mind the cultural differences among the many people who coexist in the UAE and should be cognizant that unwitting actions may invite unwanted attention. Taxi passengers should avoid sitting in the front seat of a taxicab and should be sensitive that "small talk" can be misinterpreted as over-friendliness or even a form of propositioning by some taxi drivers. Victims of harassment are encouraged to report such incidents to the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai.

Do not buy counterfeit and pirated goods, even if they are widely available. Not only are these goods illegal in the United States, purchasing them is a violation of local law.

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VICTIMS OF CRIME: If you or someone you know becomes the victim of a crime abroad, you should contact the local police and the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. We can:

Replace a stolen passport.
Help you find appropriate medical care if you are the victim of violent crimes such as assault or rape.
Put you in contact with the appropriate police authorities, and if you want us to, we cancontact family members or friends.
Help you understand the local criminal justice process and direct you to local attorneys, although it is important to remember that local authorities are responsible for investigating and prosecuting the crime.
999 is the local equivalent to the “911”emergency line in the United Arab Emirates.

Please see our information on victims of crime, including possible victim compensation programs in the United States. Further information for victims of crime in the UAE can be found on the U.S. Embassy website.

I read that as "keep your mouth shut." So let's add silencing.

And the bit about how the Embassy can't protect a victim from the UAE if she decides to press charges because ultimately under the UAE's laws.

I wish the State Department had the guts to state baldly that they're powerless and it's not safe, but that's probably international incident fighting words territory. (Which makes me wonder just what in UAE is so valuable and who there is so fearsome... A country smaller in population than Delaware that exports only sand isn't exactly on obvious threat or ally.)

....bases of course. That is why we are as a nation deferential to this bullshit sand trap of a country.

If I recall correctly, that's the transit path.

DG is deep in the Indian Ocean, whereas UAE is along the interior coastline of the Arabian peninninsula. There really aren't a whole lot of US military assets in UAW, our fleets and planes are mostly based out of Oman and Bahrain - two countries you rarely hear about.

Spent a few months in Dubai, working with UN agency. Very interesting. Nice shiny facade, but all built with slave labor. Like a twisted version of Disneyland

It's not just a Western Civ vs Muslims kind of thing. If you wanna know what I mean, "The Magdalene Sisters" is a great and informative movie to watch.

In any event, my condolences to this Scandinavian woman for what she has been put through.

...travel and products imported.

every single molecule of everything that is NOT sand.

is insane and a Trayvon tragedy. Religion really sucks.

I have no desire to ever visit ANY part of the middle east.

Unbelievable, but unfortunately very common in Dubai.

... this is what may happen here! They're going to keep it up until they decriminalize rape here in "deregulation-USA" some day. If I had to go to DuBai for business, I would require the company I work for to pay for two big burly bodyguards to go along with me.

i'm so disgusted by this. is the government of Norway taking any action on her behalf?

i guess she didn't read the handbook that says when in Dubai do not report being raped.

But I do agree with keeping religion out of the temporal sphere. I certainly do not think that religious organization ought to be permitted to run schools and the like.

to Dubai by making it so any woman that wishes to travel to Dubai has to sign a piece of paper that acknowledges that they may be sentenced to jail for being raped if they are raped while over there?
Maybe that will get the governments attention then especially if the number of visitors drops down low enough?

is completely arbitrary. On one hand -every conceivable vice is abundantly available - including prostitution, alcohol,drugs - whatever - Probably 99% of the time - in fact more like 99.99% of the time - laws restricting such things are completely overlooked. Then for either no reason or a completely arbitrary action of the state - or to protect someone being accused - the law can unexpectedly be enforced. My guess is that either the person who the woman was accusing was being protected by the authorities - or just a arbitrary action was taken because a certain police official and judge decided to do so for whatever reason. It's completely unpredictable. Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai can seem like very westernized cities and then something like this suddenly can happen.

Mohammad did make a rule that for a WOMAN to be found Guilty of Adultery, she must confess OR there be at least FOUR WITNESSES TO HER ADULTERY. That does NOT and never did extend to RAPE under Islam. Prior to Mohammad the Arabic Rule was just finding a wife with a man not her husband was enough proof to prove adultery. Mohammad changed that rule to the present need for four witnesses, but again only for Adultery NOT rape.

As a writer stated above, this is the COURT deciding to protect someone. One of the problems with these Persian Gulf States is that they are family run dictatorships (And the family is an extended family including second and third cousins). It is less what law you broke, then who did you offend.

In this case, this woman went out to have a good time, like she had probably done before, and someone raped her. She reported it, maybe even named who did it, and once the Police found out, they charged her for the Police did not DARE charge the rapist. The Police and the Court may have even believed her, but they did not want to go against the powers that be and charging her was they way to tell her it is a waste of time to say whoever rapped her rapped her.

Side note: Islam, like most traditional religions puts a huge effort on protecting guests. If you read the story of Lot (Which is in both the Bible and the Koran), the people of Sodom demanded that Lot put out the Angels who came to see him so they could rape them. Lot offered them his own daughters instead, so that Lot could protect these guest, That was rejected by the mob who wanted the Angels. Right wingers today point out the homosexual rape part of the charge, but ignore what the Story main thrust was, the Angels did NOT want to go out with the crowd and it was Lot's duty to protect these guests from harm even at personal loss (i.e. his daughter's virginity). The Sin Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for was the sin of NOT protecting guests, NOT for Homosexual activities.

I bring this up, for under Islam the fact that this woman was raped should have been a crime in itself. No need for four witnesses. Thus something else is up here and I suspect it is WHO did the Rape and his family more then anything to do with religion. Remember all of the Gulf States (except for Iran and now Iraq) are Sunni ruled countries with Shiite majorities. The Dictators stay in power by making sure the rules are strictly followed as to WHO HAS POWER IN THOSE COUNTRIES. This leads to the ability to abuse that power and it is done all the time. She sounds like she was caught up in such a situation and it was easier for the Police to charge her, then to tell her it is a waste of time to bring the rape charge (another way to look at this, is this is the Police and the Court telling her NOT to bring the rape charge against that person).

It is still wrong, but it is the tribal and clan nature of these dictatorships NOT their religion that is the problem.

Second side note: When I think about this case, the relationship between Beria and Stalin came up. During WWII and till Stalin's death, Beria was Stalin's secret police chief. Beria would order his men to pick up women off the street that he wanted to rape and bring them to his office and he would rape them. Some of the other senior communist party officials told their Daughters NOT to go anywhere near Beria for this reason. One even followed a fellow party member's daughter home do to fears she would be picked up and raped. Stalin knew of Beria's activities, disapproved of them, but found Beria useful so he left Beria alone. It is believe that Stalin was about to have another purge and Beria was top of the list when Beria poisoned Stalin (Autopsies of Stalin since the fall of the Soviet Union has found Rat Poison in his body and the death of Stalin can be explained in the terms of Rat Poison). Beria succeeded Stalin but was shot himself within three months (no one trusted him, the mass execution that was the norm under Stalin ended with Beria's death). Another characteristic of Beria was if a woman managed to get away from him, he would charge her AND HER FAMILY with a crime. Thus the women decided NOT to complain OR if they did they themselves were charged. I bring this up, for Beria got away with rape for years, because of who he knew. I suspect the same in this case, the rapist is well known to the Police, probably has done it before, but had connection that the Police do not dare challenge and like Beria the Police know it is better to charge the victim then the rapist if they know what is good for them (i.e, they want to keep they job, stay alive AND keep their own family out of jail).

and baloney to the claim that sodom and gomorrah was destroyed for not protecting guests and even if that were true how sexist and foul is it that Lot offered his own daughters to be raped and YOU characterize that as his personal loss.

Patriarchal religions are bad news for women. Always. And Islam, at this point in time is, in many places, particularly bad.

If Lot thought the crowd would have been satisfied with HIMSELF, he would have done so. The story uses his daughters to emphasis how serious this duty to protect GUESTS was, i.e he was expected to sacrifice even his daughters to satisfy his duty to protect guests.

Protection of guests was a tradition is almost all early societies, it was seen in Native American tribes during the Colonial, Revolutionary and later time periods, it was seen in Africa during the 1800s as explores exploded both interiors. Most of Africa was clearly Patriarchal, but the Native Americas were noted for being Matriarchal, yet both societies put protection of guests high on their agenda.

Arabs, even before Islam, had a similar duty when it came to guests, thus the Story of Lot was a familiar story in the Middle East. Arabic culture is very Patriarchal, but that includes "protection" of women. Yes, women are viewed as "Weak" and "owned" by some man, that does NOT mean other men can abuse her.

My point was something more then religion is in play here, under Islam, she is to be protected and thus that she was raped is a great crime. On the other hand, whoever did it sounds like someone with power. Power overcomes religion every day of the week and I suspect that is what happened here. She had the bad luck of being raped by someone the Police dare not touch. Given the power structure the Police decided the safest thing for them was to charge her.

That the police believed she was guilty or innocent is a minor issue to them, what is important is NOT to get the rich and powerful mad at them. That is the price of living in a dictatorship and you are NOT of the Dictator's inner circle. That is why I brought up Beria, technically he and Stalin were Atheists, but what happened to this woman, happened to women under Beria and I suspect for the same reason, Beria was a member of the Elite of the Soviet Union, one of the "Rich and Powerful" who the police dare NOT cross. The women raped by Beria were in the same situation as this woman, she had the bad luck to be raped by the wrong man.

country. Women, do not go there on business or to replicate a Sex and the City escapade. I thought the place was gross before I even read this. Horrible!!!!

To apply a quote from another situation.

Hopefully some other country will find a way to intercede on her behalf and help her out of the horrific nightmare. This just piles more evidence on the stack of reasons it seems unsafe for females to visit or live in patriarchal religious countries.

Please take a sec to tweet/FB/spread this around in whatever way you can. Any exposure might help.

Our govt has been relatively timid on this issue wrt. the Dubai authorities thus far, but has been pressured by the media and the populace to finally try to act more forcefully on this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23381448