Prisoner 'drugged and raped' fellow inmate, Dubai court hears

A convicted rapist was stripped and beaten by 100 other prisoners after being wrongly accused of drugging and having forceful sex with a fellow inmate during Ramadan, a court heard today.

DUBAI // A prisoner was stripped and beaten by about 100 other inmates after being accused of drugging and raping a fellow inmate during Ramadan, a court heard yesterday.

Iranian S?M, 29, claimed he was attacked by the Yemeni S?A, also 29. Both are in jail for rape.

The Iranian said he finished Al Taraweeh prayers on September 3, 2011, and the accused offered him a cup of coffee.

“I drank it but it tasted bitter,” he said. He then felt tired, which he said was strange because he usually stayed up until dawn to recite the Quran.

The Iranian said he started falling asleep and the Yemeni asked to have sex with him, but he refused. He woke up at about 11am the next day in pain and believed he had been raped.

The Iranian told a supervisor and another man, an Emirati, A?E. They told the accused to find somewhere else to sleep and he started insulting them.

This provoked other inmates and a gang of about 100 gathered, stripping the Yemeni naked and assaulting him.

The Yemeni denied rape, insisting the sex was consensual. His claim was backed up by a forensics expert, who told the court the amount of drugs found in the inmate’s urine and blood was not enough to knock him unconscious or prevent him from resisting.

A prison officer also said the Iranian contradicted himself when making the allegations.

The Yemeni said he had had consensual sex with the Iranian several times, and he had given him some of his medication after being asked to.

The Criminal Court scheduled the next hearing for January 14.