Marte Deborah Dalelv (born 1988) is a Norwegian woman, who in 2013, received a prison sentence of 16 months in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for perjury, consensual extramarital sex and alcohol consumption.
Human rights activists and politicians expressed strong criticism of the Dubai justice system's handling of the incident.
[5] Dalelv was in Dubai for a business meeting and joined colleagues from her company in Qatar for a night out on 6 March at a hotel nightclub on Sheikh Zayed Road.
In the same account, she reported taking a cab with colleagues, including the alleged attacker, to the hotel where they were staying and that she had forgotten where her room was located.
Images from the hotel's closed-circuit TV camera, which were produced in court, show Dalelv entering her colleague's room with her arm placed around his waist in one snapshot, and resting her head on his shoulder in another.
[15] Dalelv said a medical examination seeking evidence of the alleged rape and a blood test for alcohol were taken as a standard procedure.
[16] The Dubai police forensic report confirmed the woman had had sex but there was no mention of any physical violence.
[17] Six days later, on 12 March, Dalelv returned to the police and retracted her allegation, saying that she had made the initial complaint "because I was under the influence of alcohol".
According to The National, an employee of her company had told her it would be a difficult case to prove, and withdrawing it would help her leave the UAE.
Dalelv admitted to drinking alcohol, but she denied having consensual sex and making a false report to the police that she had been raped on 6 March.
[15] Dalelv was fired from her job at THE One Total Home Experience in April on the ground of "unacceptable and improper behaviour during your last business trip in Dubai, which has resulted in your arrest by the Police Authorities in UAE"[25] and "that was in direct violation of the company policy".
On 21 July 2013, the company claimed they were working to secure her release, would provide legal support and that she was terminated because she "ceased communication" with them, not because of the rape allegations.
[33][34][35] The serious reaction against the Norwegian government led to an official turnaround, after which Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide criticised the conviction, first saying "this is clearly in conflict with our sense of justice" and admitting that it was "problematic from a human rights perspective.
[38] Ministry of Foreign Affairs consultant Kathrine Raadim indicated that Norway would not recall its ambassador to the UAE.
[39] The incident also caused an uproar on social media, as people were leaving comments on the Facebook pages of both the employer, THE One Total Home Experience and the Dubai Tourist Office.
THE One Total Home Experience closed their Facebook page to comments from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark on 19 July 2013.
[47] Human Rights Watch has previously focused on the UAE's poor record in dealing with sexual violence.
Michelsen Institute, declared on 21 July 2013 that the matter will be resolved quickly, because for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates such negative worldwide media attention is completely unusual, and that they spend enormous resources on getting businesses and tourists to Dubai, so that it would be very likely that diplomacy will work in this case.
[51] The pardon came from the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and constitutional monarch of Dubai.