Austrian rape victim returns from Dubai – but may still face charges of having sex outside marriage

An Austrian woman has returned home from Dubai nearly two months after she filed rape charges that led to authorities there briefly jailing her and taking her passport.

The 29-year-old woman, who is believed to be Muslim, landed in Vienna on Thursday, after intervention by the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

But Foreign Ministry official Michael Linhart said on Friday that it was unclear whether she still faces charges in Dubai of having sex outside marriage, which is illegal in the United Arab Emirate capital.

The woman told authorities on 1 December that she was raped by a Yemeni citizen in a hotel garage.

But she was subsequently jailed for three days and her passport was confiscated as police weighed whether to charge her with consuming alcohol and having extramarital sex.

The case echoes that of a Norwegian woman, who was briefly jailed last year for similar reasons. She was sentenced to 16 months in prison, but was allowed to leave instead of serving her term.

Additional reporting by Associated Press