DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Norwegian woman at the center of a Dubai rape claim dispute said Sunday that officials have dropped her 16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage and she is free to leave the country.
“I am very, very happy,” Marte Deborah Dalelv told The Associated Press. “I am overjoyed.”
The sentence against the 24-year-old Dalelv last week stirred widespread outrage in the West and highlighted the frequent clash between Dubai’s Western-friendly image and its Islamic-based legal codes.
