ABH DHABI // A man was cleared today of charges he raped his 14-year-old niece, then demanded she undergo surgery to restore her virginity.
The judges of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted AS, an Iranian who lives in Bani Yas, on grounds of lack of evidence, and no other charges were filed. AS had denied the incident, which allegedly happened on December 4.
The defence lawyer Abdulraouf Abdulqader had told the court the charges were based on hearsay and argued that forensic evidence showed no sign of assault.
Witnesses from the family, including girl's grandfather, said her mother had pushed her to lodge a complaint because of a grudge dating to before the girl was born.
"The defendant has denied the incident took place in the first place and no evidence was presented against him," Mr Abdulqader said. "After going through the cross-examination carried out by the court, we are left with no doubts that the story was entirely made up and based on her testimony which cannot be taken as a legal evidence."
Prosecutors said AS and the girl lived with the family of the girl's grandfather, along with other family members, including AS’ daughters.
AS was alleged to have raped the girl after finding her sleeping in the bedroom of one of his daughters and told her he was willing to pay Dh10,000 to Dh20,000 to restore her virginity.
According to the victim, her father asked her to drop the case, marry AS for 15 days, then divorce him.
hhassan@thenational.a
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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