Rape of Alexandre Robert

The Alexandre Robert case concerns an incident of gang rape of a minor that occurred in 2007 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This case was widely publicized in France and around the world and had consequences for diplomatic relations between France and the United Arab Emirates.^[1]

The facts[]

On 14 July 2007, Alexandre Robert, a young Frenchman aged 15 living in Dubai, was returning from the beach with his friend and, unable to find a taxi, decided to accept an offer of a ride from an acquaintance, a young Emirati man. This acquaintance called two of his friends, men aged 18 and 36,^[2] who came to pick them up by car. Alexandre and his friend got into the car but soon realized that the car had passed the exit where he lived and was heading towards the outskirts of the city and the open desert. Realizing the situation, Alexandre tried to discreetly alert the police with his cell phone, but he was caught by the men in the car. These men then locked the car doors and started threatening Alexandre and his friend with a knife and telling them to shut up.^[3]

When the car finally stopped, it was in the desert. The assailants forcibly removed Alexandre's friend from the car, while Alexandre remained forcibly locked inside the car. There he was gang raped in turn by the three men at gunpoint.^[4]

As they were about to leave, the Emiratis realized that their car was stuck in the sand. They telephoned for help, and a 4x4 arrived quickly. Alexandre managed to memorize the license plate of the 4x4, which later led to the arrest of the perpetrators.^[5]

Alexandre and his friend were then brought back to Dubai where they were hastily thrown out of the car in front of a luxury hotel. During the ride back to the city, Alexandre and his friend were repeatedly threatened that they would be raped again and killed if they tried to report them to the police.^[6]

Controversies[]

Minimization of the case by the Dubai authorities[]

This case has shed light on part of the judicial system of the United Arab Emirates, particularly on the treatment reserved for rape cases and on the taboo of homosexuality in the country. Indeed, back in Dubai, the two young men were brought to the police station by Alexandre's father to file a complaint. But the latter will say that they were received in a rather hostile way by the police who would have done everything to dissuade them from filing a complaint and would have done everything to minimize the facts and to pass the case under silence.^[5]

At the time of the medical examination, the doctor at the police station would have tried to get Alexandre to admit that he was homosexual and that this affair was not in fact a rape, but a consensual homosexual relationship between him and the three men.^[7] The medical report also suggests that Alexandre has "homosexual liabilities".^{[citation needed]}

The subject of rape and homosexuality is very taboo in the country, Dubai considers homosexuality a crime, with consensual sodomy punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Dubai.^[8] The concept of raping a man is also not widely recognised, with Dubai even preferring to talk about "forced homosexuality"^[5] rather than rape in these situations.

Alexandre's mother, Véronique Robert, was quickly made aware of the events. As a journalist, she used her networks and knowledge to ensure that justice was done and that her son's rape was not swept under the carpet by the Dubai authorities. She hires a French-speaking Emirati lawyer, has her son undergo serious medical tests and ensures that the complaint is taken seriously.

In her efforts, she enlisted the help of the French authorities, in particular the . Véronique Robert then contacted the French government directly via the Quai d'Orsay and the Secretary General of the Elysée Palace, Claude Géant.^[5] During a meeting at the Elysée Palace in July 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy even asked his Emirati counterpart to give "the greatest attention" to the Alexandre Robert case.^[9]

Following the mobilisation of Alexandre's mother, their lawyer contacted the Dubai police so that they could take the young man's statement again, this time more seriously as it was not even recorded. Thanks to this new statement and the number plate that Alexandre had managed to remember during his attack, the police were able to arrest two of the rapists.^[10]

Concealment of blood results[]

The Dubai authorities initially announced to Alexander's family that the blood tests carried out on the three attackers had proved negative and that they were therefore not carriers of AIDS or other STDs.^[2] But very quickly contradictory information arrives and the family begins to doubt this information. So they asked for new medical tests and once again they were told that the new tests were negative. Except that two weeks after the thunderclap, it was learned that the 32-year-old assailant had been carrying AIDS for several years and that this information was well known to the Emirati authorities, who had even recommended that the man be locked up in a separate room when he was incarcerated. The Emirati authorities are said to have sought to hide this AIDS case, as the subject, like that of homosexuality, is very taboo in the country, which seeks to deny the existence of the virus on its territory^[11]

Faced with this obvious concealment of information, Véronique Robert accuses the Dubai authorities of having lied and endangered her son's life because during this time they have not been able to start a preventive .^{[clarification needed]} Faced with all these problems and negligence, Véronique Robert filed a complaint against the Attorney General, the two chiefs of police, the Sheikh of Dubai and Abu Dhabi for endangering her son's life.^[5]

The trial[]

In the first trial, two of the three rapists in the car were tried, the 18-year-old man and the 36-year-old man. They were accused of "kidnapping with deception" and "forced homosexuality",^[11] the latter charge being punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty in Dubai.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and claimed that Alexandre had consented during the events. Their lawyers accused Alexandre Robert of being homosexual, as homosexuality is a crime in Dubai. The third man, Alexandre's acquaintance who had offered him a ride and forced him into the car, was later judged by a court for minors.^[12]

Ultimately, the two adult men were sentenced to 15 years in prison each.^[13] Although Alexandre and his family were pleased that the men were convicted and that the crime did not go unpunished, they did not consider the sentence to be severe enough. In their opinion, the fact that the 36-year-old man had hidden his HIV status was an aggravating factor that should have resulted in a harsher sentence.

References[]