From Gulf News, 17 August 2003:

A 15-year-old expatriate girl living in Abu Dhabi will be flogged 90 times before being deported from the UAE for committing adultery.

The sentence was handed down by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court and supported by the Supreme Federal Court. The girl was charged by the criminal court with committing adultery at the age of 15.

The Prosecution claimed the girl was involved in an illicit relationship with a man and said she should be punished according to the Shariah Law. The court also sentenced the man involved with her.

The girl went to the Appeal Court which reconfirmed her sentence. She also appealed before the Supreme Federal Court on the grounds it was against the law to convict her since she is a teenager.

She said she was well below the legal permissible age of 18 when she committed the crime, implying the court should consider her case as a juvenile.

Her appeal was turned down by the federal court which supported the sentence and said the Shariah courts are solely responsible for applying Shariah laws for punitive crimes, blood money, drugs, juvenile delinquencies and others.

The court said according to the Shariah law, in contrast to the Civil Law, the girl has already reached adulthood by reaching puberty as confirmed by a medical doctor at Corniche Hospital.

Therefore she should be punished for adultery under the Shariah law which views that the girl deserves the punishment and should not be regarded a juvenile.

From Gulf News, 20 June 2007:

Abu Dhabi: A teenage girl will receive 60 lashes for having illicit sex with a man, the Federal Supreme Court has confirmed.

The girl, identified as R.A., who was 14 -years-old when the incident occurred, had sex with a man, identified as H.S. R.A. had been meeting with H.S. in secret, she told the public prosecution. The prosecution accused the two of adultery and khulwa [illegally staying together in a private place without being related].

The Al Ain court of First Instance sentenced R.A. to 60 lashes. It also sentenced H.S. to six months in jail but acquitted him of adultery for lack of evidence.

From a newspaper report of 26 December:

Two Indonesians, a watchman and a housemaid, have been sentenced to 100 lashes each and subsequent deportation for maintaining illicit relations and operating a prostitution racket in the Khartiyat area.

The Doha court of first instance heard that the 23-year-old man pimped for his lover (28) and another compatriot housemaid (25). The court was told that the watchman used the house as a vice den in the absence of the owner. He allegedly provided customers to the housemaids, both registered as absconders from their sponsors.

A 29-year-old Nepali customer was sentenced in absentia to three years’ imprisonment.

According to the public prosecution, a Qatari neighbour tipped off the authorities.

An interesting story from a Ghanaian news agency back in May 2007:

The Nkwanta District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is to investigate allegations that the Headmaster of the Nkwanta Secondary School entered the girl’s bathhouse and whipped some students while they bathed.

Fifteen final year female students have lodged a complaint at the GES Office at Nkwanta that Mr Sebastian Kutorb, the Headmaster, last Thursday entered their bathhouse and gave them between six and 12 lashes each.

A student source told the Ghana News Agency that the students were among some final year students who returned to their dormitories at dawn after studies in their classrooms. She said while having their bath Mr Kutorb entered the bathhouse and went back without saying anything. The source said while the agitated students scampered to cover themselves they heard Mr Kutorb shouting out to a teacher for a cane…

When contacted Mr Kutorb said the students who were supposed to be attending a house meeting were being disciplined. He said the students were exaggerating what happened… Mr Kutorb complained; “final year students would always not want to respect school regulations.”

A posting on 9 June to the Experience Project, from a woman now in her late forties:

I was at 15yrs. I love to party with my friends. One of my friends was having a party. her parents was out for a couple of days, I asked my mom if I could stay the night. I told her that Michelle did not want to stay a lone by herself, mom said yes. mom did not know about the party. after school Michelle and I got the place ready for the party. We had the music up loud, spike the punch with her parents booze. all our friends bought in the food and snacks.

The party got going up till almost midnight the cops came and told us to turn the music down. we did, the cops left. then there was a fight and we had to break up the party. after all was gone home. We had a mess to clean. We got most of it cleaned up and decided we better get some shut eye. so we went to sleep. we slept for a long time.

We did not know mom would come by. My mom came over to see if we were OK. she knew we had a party. she could see the trash can full. of party goods. she had asked us if there was a party here. we fibbed mom did not believe us… she said to Michelle that she will be in a lot of trouble, My mom was going to tell her parents.

My mom then grabbed me and yanked me over her knees in front of my friend, down my PJ bottoms came, mom blistered my bottom with her hands and I was bawling in front of my friend, then I got soap in my mouth for the fib. Michelle was crying as well and she was not even spanked. I asked why she was crying. she blamed herself for getting me in trouble. my friend Michelle told my mother for her to spanked her as well for getting me in trouble and for lying. Michelle was 16 she is about 6mos older.

My mom told her that she wants Michelle to call her folks and tell them what has happen while my mom was here. My friend called her parents and told them what had happen and Michelle told them she was the one who put the party on. she gave the phone to my mom, my mom told them what Michelle had asked her to do. Her dad told my mom to blister her bottom good and to also tell his daughter that she is going to get another dose when they got home in 2 days. Mom hung up the phone told Michelle what her dad said. she was scared.

My mom made us clean the rest of the mess. Michelle was having to stay the remainder at my house. before we left mom took Michelle and told her to remove her PJ’s and undies Michelle was put over my moms knees and blistered with moms hands,She was bawling like I was. She also got the wash treatment. my bottom was still sore for the spanking it was only maybe an hr when I got mine. when her dad come to pick Michelle up he took her into my room and she was blistered again. her mother got permission to spank me as well and her mom did spank me bare with her hand.

Michelle told me my mom spankings hurt. I told her I know. It still did not keep us from having another party.

Although this story dates from as far back as 1953, it’s still interesting. It describes a court case (known as “R. v. McCoy [1953] 2 SA 4″) in “the British dominion of Southern Rhodesia (today, Zimbabwe)”:

“An airline hostess had broken a safety regulation and though the company suffered no loss, the breach was still serious enough that she could easily be fired. Also, she was also an immigrant so this would have brought financial ruin and perhaps deportation.

The manager, named McCoy, knew this and quietly suggested that  she could keep her job provided she consented to corporal punishment, to be delivered later. She agreed, expecting discipline to be applied over her clothing.

She arrived later to learn her punishment would be a caning while bent over a chair, bare-bottom. She protested, he insisted, she ultimately acquiesced. The bruises lasted for some time and she complained to police, who arrested him.

At his trial the manager argued that he should be acquitted because she had consented to corporal punishment. The  magistrate disagreed and he was convicted of assault. The punishment she received was not the punishment she had consented to.  (Records do not show whether the airline hostess kept her job, but the manager certainly lost his.)”