{"source_url": "https://www.theguardian.com", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus", "title": "British teenager's mother calls for tourism boycott of Cyprus", "top_image": "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=356e8daa20f552306fc275ad145cf2b1", "meta_img": "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=356e8daa20f552306fc275ad145cf2b1", "images": ["https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1&comscorekw=Cyprus%2CEurope%2CWorld+news", "https://phar.gu-web.net/count/pvg.gif", "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2fe360a02a75e1fca6def9a3372f6d41", "https://phar.gu-web.net/count/pv.gif", "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=356e8daa20f552306fc275ad145cf2b1"], "movies": [], "text": "Mother of woman found guilty of lying about being gang-raped says Ayia Napa resort is unsafe\n\nThe mother of a British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus has backed calls for a tourism boycott of the country.\n\nThe woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme that she supported the campaign and that she believed the resort town of Ayia Napa was unsafe.\n\n\u201cThe place isn\u2019t safe \u2013 it is absolutely not safe. And if you go and report something that\u2019s happened to you, you\u2019re either laughed at, as far as I can tell, or, in the worst case, something like what\u2019s happened to my daughter may happen,\u201d she said.\n\nThe teenager said she was raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room in Ayia Napa on 17 July.\n\nBut she was charged and the dozen young men, aged between 15 and 20, who were arrested over the incident, were freed after she signed a retraction statement 10 days later.\n\nThe woman said her daughter was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hallucinations, and sleeping for up to 20 hours a day because of a condition called hypersomnia.\n\n\u201cShe needs to get back to the UK to get that treated \u2013 that\u2019s my absolute primary focus. She can\u2019t be treated here because hearing foreign men speaking loudly will trigger an episode \u2026\n\n\u201cIt needs resolving otherwise she\u2019s going to carry on having this for the rest of her life,\u201d the woman said.\n\nShe said her daughter had planned to go to university this year after being accepted for the courses she applied for and being offered a bursary at one institute.\n\n\u201cSo, no question, she would have gone to university, but it was in a career that she wouldn\u2019t be able to do with this \u2018public mischief\u2019 verdict, so \u2013 again, life-changing for her \u2013 she needs to totally rethink her options.\u201d\n\nA crowdfunding appeal to raise money for legal support for her daughter has passed \u00a380,000.\n\nThe \u201chelp teen victim get justice in Cyprus\u201d GoFundMe page was set up in August by the British lawyer John Hobbs to raise cash for the 19-year-old\u2019s legal representation.\n\nThe teenager claimed in court she was raped but forced to change her account under pressure from Cypriot police.\n\nThe Foreign Office said the UK was \u201cseriously concerned\u201d about the fairness of the woman\u2019s trial and it is understood officials have raised the \u201cdeeply distressing case\u201d with the Cypriot authorities.\n\nLawyers and campaigners criticised the justice system after the woman was convicted of public mischief at Famagusta district court, in Paralimni, on Monday.\n\nThe psychologist who assessed the woman as part of her defence case, Dr Christine Tizzard, said she was concerned the trial had not fully considered that she had been diagnosed with PTSD.\n\nShe told the Guardian: \u201cThe salient point is that she was diagnosed with PTSD. That\u2019s a standalone diagnosis. It\u2019s a valid diagnosis and it hasn\u2019t really been fully represented.\n\n\u201cAside the fact it hasn\u2019t been fully represented, it means she\u2019s been unable to get the treatment she so sorely needs and every day she\u2019s not having treatment the worse it gets.\u201d\n\nThe government of Cyprus has said it has \u201cfull confidence in the justice system and the courts\u201d.\n\nCyprus\u2019s attorney general said on Tuesday he could not suspend the trial because the woman had levelled \u201cgrave accusations\u201d against police investigators that had to be adjudicated in court.\n\nHe said her allegation that police coerced her into retracting her rape claim \u201ccould not have been left to linger\u201d so he could not move to suspend the trial.\n\nIn a statement, Costas Clerides added: \u201cAny intervention on the part of the attorney general, either for reasons of public interest or any other reasons, would have constituted nothing more than an obstacle to ascertaining the true facts of the case, as well as interference in the judiciary\u2019s work.\u201d\n\nJudge Michalis Papathanasiou said he believed the woman had made false allegations because she felt \u201cembarrassed\u201d after realising she had been filmed having sex in a video found on some of the Israelis\u2019 mobile phones.\n\nThe woman has been on bail since the end of August, after spending a month in prison, and could face up to a year in jail and a \u20ac1,700 (\u00a31,500) fine when she is sentenced on 7 January.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["Cyprus", "Europe", "World news"], "tags": [], "authors": ["Pa Media"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Mother of woman found guilty of lying about being gang-raped says Ayia Napa resort is unsafe", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/favicons/fee5e2d638d1c35f6d501fa397e53329/152x152.png", "meta_data": {"description": "Mother of woman found guilty of lying about being gang-raped says Ayia Napa resort is unsafe", "format-detection": "telephone=no", "HandheldFriendly": "True", "viewport": "width=device-width,minimum-scale=1,initial-scale=1", "apple-mobile-web-app-title": "Guardian", "application-name": "The Guardian", "msapplication-TileColor": "#052962", "theme-color": "#052962", "msapplication-TileImage": "https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/favicons/023dafadbf5ef53e0865e4baaaa32b3b/windows_tile_144_b.png", "thumbnail": "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b1d4c14b2dc1a24ac83b3bd9935d1fb0", "keywords": "Cyprus,Europe,World news", "news_keywords": "Cyprus,Europe,World news", "og": {"url": "http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus", "image": "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=356e8daa20f552306fc275ad145cf2b1", "description": "Mother of woman found guilty of lying about being gang-raped says Ayia Napa resort is unsafe", "type": "article", "title": "British teenager's mother calls for tourism boycott of Cyprus", "site_name": "the Guardian"}, "article": {"author": "PA Media", "publisher": "https://www.facebook.com/theguardian", "section": "World news", "published_time": "2020-01-01T08:45:06.000Z", "tag": "Cyprus,Europe,World news", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T08:45:06.000Z"}, "al": {"ios": {"url": "gnmguardian://world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus?contenttype=Article&source=applinks", "app_store_id": 409128287, "app_name": "The Guardian"}}, "fb": {"app_id": 180444840287, "pages": 516977308337360}, "twitter": {"app": {"id": {"iphone": 409128287, "ipad": 409128287, "googleplay": "com.guardian"}, "name": {"googleplay": "The Guardian", "ipad": "The Guardian", "iphone": "The Guardian"}, "url": {"ipad": "gnmguardian://world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus?contenttype=Article&source=twitter", "googleplay": "guardian://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus", "iphone": "gnmguardian://world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus?contenttype=Article&source=twitter"}}, "image": "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7b98cde82acb0ff007ce5eeea08a9650a0216d8e/1005_197_1743_1046/master/1743.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&s=c68eb59e55f2f668e1905e630e098c7d", "site": "@guardian", "card": "summary_large_image", "dnt": "on"}}, "canonical_link": "https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/british-teenagers-mother-calls-for-tourism-boycott-of-cyprus"}