DUBAI, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) - An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday upheld 15-year jail terms handed down against two Emiratis convicted of raping a French-Swiss teenager, an AFP journalist said.
The judge in Dubai took just a few seconds to announce his ruling after proceedings opened.
The defence wanted the sentences pronounced on December 12 to be quashed, and a lawyer for the two men told AFP after Sunday's ruling that a further appeal would be lodged with the supreme court.
Prosecutors had demanded the maximum punishment, which could have meant the death penalty.
A third defendant is being tried in a juvenile court.
One of the men who raped the European teenager was HIV-positive, but has since been found to be clear of the sexually transmittable disease.
The boy's mother, Veronique Robert, launched a media campaign to publicise the case and gather support for her demand that the UAE recognise homosexual rape in its legal system and set up institutions to treat AIDS sufferers.
She protested against the original verdict, saying that "15 years is nothing for someone who knew he had AIDS."
Three men offered the victim a lift from a Dubai mall last July 14 but then drove into the desert where the teenager was raped while being threatened with a knife and a billiard cue, according to the charges.
Defence lawyers claimed the victim had consented to sex and had lied to the Emirati authorities.
The case was widely reported in the Western media, denting the liberal image of Dubai as a regional leisure and business hub.
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