UAE to try girl, 14, for adultery

2011-04-14 13:33

Dubai - A 14-year-old Arab schoolgirl who has been detained in the United Arab Emirates on a charge of adultery will appear in court later this month, a local daily reported on Thursday.

"The trial will start in spite of the age ceiling set for trials on sexual related crimes by the UAE law," said Gulf News.

"The law states that the minimum age of suspects in crimes related to sex must be 15 years. Such cases should be conducted in special juvenile courts. Otherwise, suspects are considered victims rather than suspects," the daily quoted a "law expert" as saying.

On April 5, Gulf News said police in the emirate of Ajman had arrested the teenager after she met up with her 25-year-old boyfriend on the roof of her family home.

She has since been forced to undergo a gynaecological examination which "confirmed she was still a virgin", the unnamed girl's father was quoted as saying by the English-language daily.

In police custody since March 22, the girl was held at a jail with adult women for two weeks and was even in solitary confinement for three days before Gulf News reported on her case at which point she was transferred to a juvenile centre.

But the girl’s father told the newspaper that she was actually still at the adult prison, Ajman Central Jail.

The girl’s lawyer says she will be tried later this month on charges of adultery.

- AFP