Story highlights Marte Deborah Dalelv says she was sentenced to prison in Dubai after reporting she was raped 
 
 The Norwegian alleges she was attacked by a colleague after a night out on work trip 
 
 Norway's foreign minister tells UAE her conviction "is contrary to fundamental human rights" 
 
 Dubai police and UAE authorities have not responded to CNN's requests for comment 
 
 Norwegian interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv has spoken out after being handed a 16-month prison sentence in Dubai -- after she went to police to report she had been raped by a colleague. 
 
 The 24-year-old was convicted and sentenced on charges of having unlawful sex, making a false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol. 
 
 Her story is dominating the headlines in Norway, and has raised serious questions over the way women who allege sexual assault are treated in the United Arab Emirates. 
 
 Dalelv, who had been working at an interior design firm in Qatar since September 2011, told CNN on Saturday how a work trip to Dubai in March with three colleagues turned into a nightmare. 
 
 She said she had been out at a bar with her colleagues and friends, and asked a male colleague to walk her to her room when they returned at 3 a.m. to the hotel. She'd asked him to escort her because the hotel was large and confusing, and she didn't want to be wandering on her own, knowing she'd been drinking, she said. 
 
 This family handout photo taken in Abu Dhabi in May 2013 shows Norwegian businesswoman Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24. 
 
 When they reached a room, she realized it wasn't hers -- but the man then pulled her inside despite her vocal objections, according to Dalelv. 
 
 "He dragged me by my purse in, so I thought, 'OK, I just need to calm the situation down. I will finish my bottle of water, I will sit here and then I will excuse myself and say I feel fine,'" she said. 
 
 That was pretty much the last thing she said she remembers before the alleged sexual assault. "I woke up with my clothes off, sleeping on my belly, and he was raping me. I tried to get off, I tried to get him off, but he pushed me back down." 
 
 After someone knocked -- the hotel wake-up call -- she managed to get dressed and make it downstairs to the hotel reception, Dalelv said. "I called the police. That is what you do. We are trained on that from when we are very young," she said. 
 
 Some 10 or 12 male police officers arrived, but no female police officers were present, she said. Statements were taken from both Dalelv and the alleged rapist. 
 
 She was then taken to Bur Dubai police station, she said. 
 
 After again giving her version of events to officers, Dalelv said, "They asked me, 'Are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?' I said, 'Well of course I didn't like it.' That is when I knew, I don't think they are going to believe me at all." 
 
 Dalelv says she was taken for an intimate medical exam and tested for alcohol consumption. Her belongings were taken and she was kept in jail for four days, she said, with no explanation as to why. 
 
 Dubai police and UAE government officials have not responded to repeated CNN requests for comment. 
 
 Dalelv said she managed to call her parents on the third day to tell them she had been raped and ask them to contact the Norwegian Embassy. A day later, a representative from the Norwegian consulate came to the police station and she was released -- but her passport was not returned. 
 
 A piece of paper with Arabic text was handed to her, she said. An Arabic speaker told her it listed two charges against her: one for sex outside of marriage and the other for public consumption of alcohol. Both are violations of the law in the United Arab Emirates. 
 
 It was the first time she was made aware that she faced charges, Dalelv said. 
 
 She was allowed out on bail and has been staying since at the Norwegian Seaman's Center in Dubai. 
 
 Subsequently, she said her manager advised her to tell the police it was voluntary sexual intercourse and likely the whole issue would just go away. She followed the advice and in one of the many hearings at the public prosecutor's office, she made a statement saying it was voluntary. 
 
 Dalelv was then charged with making a false statement. 
 
 "That was my biggest regret because it wasn't voluntary. I just thought it would all go away," she told CNN. 
 
 But a representative of Al Mana Interiors, who Dalelv worked for, told CNN that she was not advised by her manager to say the sex was consensual but rather by a police officer, who told her that in Arabic and it was translated into English by her manager. 
 
 Dalelv said a month after the rape, while forced to stay in Dubai as the case wound through the legal system, she was fired. 
 
 The representative, who declined to be publicly identified, said Dalelv and the Sudanese man she accused -- who is married with three children -- have both been terminated by Al Mana Interiors for "drinking alcohol at a staff conference that resulted in trouble with the police." 
 
 A statement released late Saturday by Al Mana Interiors spokesman Hani El Korek said the company was sympathetic to Dalelv "during this very difficult situation." It also said that company representatives were by her side through the initial investigation, spending "days at both the police station and the prosecutor's office to help win her release." 
 
 "Only when Ms. Dalelv declined to have positive and constructive discussions about her employment status, and ceased communication with her employer, was the company forced to end our relationship with her," the statement said. 
 
 "The decision had nothing to do with the rape allegation, and unfortunately neither Ms. Dalelv nor her attorneys have chosen to contact the company to discuss her employment status." 
 
 The company is owned by Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, who made headlines earlier this year after it was revealed that he has secretly married singer Janet Jackson in 2012. 
 
 Dalelv was convicted Tuesday on all three charges and was sentenced to one year in jail for having unlawful sex, three months in jail for making a false statement and one month for illegal consumption of alcohol. 
 
 CNN could not immediately confirm what happened to the alleged perpetrator, who was charged with public intoxication and having sex outside of marriage. 
 
 Dalelv is scheduled to appear at the court on September 5 to begin the appeal proceedings. Dalelv, who is not allowed to leave the UAE pending the appeal, said her lawyers have instructed her to be prepared to go back into jail while they submit a request for bail while the appeal is ongoing. 
 
 As a rule, CNN does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Dalelv went public with her story. 
 
 Her conviction may risk wider diplomatic repercussions. 
 
 Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide called his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, on Friday night to protest Dalelv's sentencing, a statement from the Norwegian ministry said. 
 
 "I emphasized that we believe that the conviction is contrary to fundamental human rights, including conventions that the UAE have officially ratified," Eide is quoted as saying. 
 
 "Norway will continue to do what we can to support her in what is a very difficult situation. Our cooperation with the UAE is strong and good, but I conveyed to my colleague that we are worried that this difficult case may disturb our good relations if we do not reach a good solution in the near future." 
 
 Dalelv told CNN she received a call from Eide on Friday reiterating Norway's support. 
 
 While Dubai has a reputation as a cosmopolitan city that boasts Western influences, where visitors can drink at bars and restaurants and unmarried couples can share hotel rooms, the country adheres to Islamic laws and traditions. 
 
 The United Arab Emirates has been heavily criticized by rights groups, which say it condones sexual violence against women. Human Rights Watch has called its record "shameful," saying it must change the way it handles such cases. 
 
 In December 2012, a British woman reported being raped by three men in Dubai. She was found guilty of drinking alcohol without a license and fined. 
 
 In January 2010, a British woman told authorities she was raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel. She was charged with public intoxication and having sex outside of marriage. 
 
 An Australian woman reported in 2008 that she was drugged and gang-raped. She was convicted of having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, and she was sentenced to 11 months in prison. ||||| Video 
 
 Image Dubai pardons rape case woman A woman at the centre of a Dubai rape claim dispute says that officials have dropped her 16-month sentence. 
 
 A NORWEGIAN woman sentenced to prison in Dubai after reporting she was raped has been set free with a full pardon after her case sparked an outcry. 
 
 Marte Dalelv, 24, expressed relief at the end of a four-month ordeal which had seen her prosecuted and convicted for extramarital sex, perjury and consuming alcohol without a licence, after she lodged the complaint against her boss. 
 
 The convictions could have seen her serving a 16-month jail term in the United Arab Emirates but Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum pardoned her on all counts. 
 
 The boss, against whom she lodged the complaint and who had been sentenced to 13 months for alcohol consumption and sex outside marriage, was also pardoned, her lawyer Mahmoud Azab said. 
 
 “I was told that I've been pardoned,” a smiling Ms Dalelv told reporters outside a Scandinavian social centre, adding her passport had been returned and she would leave the Gulf state “as soon as possible”. 
 
 “I'm very, very happy. This is the perfect ending (and) it feels really, really good,” she said. 
 
 In Oslo, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide expressed relief the pardon had been granted but criticised the original court verdict. 
 
 “I'm... thankful to the emir, who has it within his power to give such a pardon,” Mr Eide said. 
 
 “The verdict was contrary to several conventions of human rights that the Emirates have signed and promised to upkeep, especially the UN Convention of Women.” 
 
 Mr Eide had criticised Ms Dalelv's prosecution from the outset saying it was “very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world are not even a crime.” 
 
 Ms Dalelv reported the rape to police back in March and was immediately detained, being released four days later with the assistance of Norwegian diplomats. 
 
 She has since been staying at the Norwegian Seamen's Centre in Dubai. 
 
 Norwegian authorities had agreed to pay for legal fees after she spent $10,000 on legal assistance, she said. 
 
 Ms Dalelv, who had come to Dubai on a business trip from Doha when the incident took place, said she has not yet decided if she will go back to Qatar. 
 
 Ms Dalelv's boss, a Sudanese identified only as Hawari in his 30s, was also freed and handed back his passport, her lawyer Azab said. 
 
 Norwegian ambassador Ase Elin Bjerke, who was accompanying Ms Dalelv, told AFP: “We are very grateful for the outcome of this case ... It has been very challenging.” 
 
 She said there was no immediate word on the grounds for the pardon but “the very fruitful dialogue that we have had at a senior level has given result.” 
 
 “She has not only been pardoned but she can stay until she decides herself to leave and she is allowed to return to the UAE anytime,” said Mr Bjerke. 
 
 Ms Dalelv had said she was hopeful that she would succeed in her appeal against the conviction by a Dubai court last week. 
 
 Her hearing was to have taken place on September 5, before she was called to appear at the public prosecutor's office and informed of the pardon on Monday. 
 
 “Marte was a victim of her boss's moral corruption,” her lawyer Azab told reporters. 
 
 The Norwegian government had faced opposition criticism for not taking more robust action in support of Ms Dalelv. 
 
 But the foreign minister's political adviser, Kathrine Raadim, had insisted it was out of the question for Norway to recall its ambassador while the case remained unresolved. 
 
 A petition on campaign group Avaaz for her release had obtained over 72,000 signatures while several Facebook groups were set up to demand her freedom. 
 
 AFP 
 
 
 
 ||||| DUBAI A Norwegian interior designer jailed in Dubai for illicit sex after she reported being raped says she has no regrets about coming forward if her warning will protect others from a similar fate. 
 
 A court on July 17 sentenced Marte Deborah Dalelv to 16 months in prison for having sex outside marriage, drinking and making false statements. She says a male colleague pulled her into his hotel room and raped her after she asked him to help her find her own room when they had had a few drinks. 
 
 The 24-year-old has been released on condition she remain at a Norwegian Christian center in Dubai pending the outcome of an appeal. Asked if she regretted reporting the assault, Dalelv said no: "The truth is the only thing that will help me get through this." 
 
 The news has dominated the front pages in Norway and raised questions about the judicial system in the Gulf state, which lures large numbers of expatriates and tourists with a Western lifestyle but has little-publicized conservative laws on its books covering sex and alcohol. 
 
 Norway has complained. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told reporters: "We believe this is a completely unacceptable verdict, which is contrary to human rights and the basic sense of justice." 
 
 In the United Arab Emirates, as in some other countries using Islamic law, a rape conviction can require either a confession or the testimony of four adult male witnesses. 
 
 According to the UK-based Emirates Centre for Human Rights, Dalelv's is only the latest in a string of cases in which women who have reported being raped have ended up with jail sentences. 
 
 Among recent cases, a Briton who alleged she had been raped by three men was fined for drinking alcohol. An Emirati woman was sentenced to a year in prison after claiming to have been gang-raped. An Australian woman was sent to prison for 11 months after reporting a gang-rape to police, the Centre said. 
 
 Dubai promotes itself as a resort destination and a base for international business. Its hotels have licensed nightclubs, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol openly. 
 
 But rarely-enforced laws actually define it as illegal for residents to drink without a special license that few obtain. Possessing alcohol outside a licensed bar or being drunk in public are offences, even if the alcohol was bought legally. Such laws can be used to prosecute visitors who are involved in accidents or report crimes. 
 
 In an interview with Reuters, Dalelv said that by coming forward she hoped to alert other people not to expect Western standards of judicial protection. 
 
 "Dubai seems like a Western city, but what a lot of tourists don't know for example that it's not legal for them to drink alcohol," she said. 
 
 Dalelv said she did not realize she would be treated as a criminal rather than as a victim, until after she reported the assault and found herself being interrogated at a police station. An officer asked if she was making the rape report because she had not enjoyed sex. 
 
 "That is when I knew: I don't think they are going to believe me at all," she said. 
 
 She was held in prison for four days until contact was made with the Norwegian consulate and bail arranged. She still expected to be exonerated when her legal team presented its case. Her conviction came as a shock. 
 
 "I am very surprised because we had a DNA report, we had a medical report ... and still didn't believe me." 
 
 (Reporting by Amena Bakr; Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff)
– A Norwegian woman who reported she had been raped only to find herself sentenced to 16 months in a Dubai jail has been pardoned by the emirate's leader, Norwegian officials say. Marte Dalelv had been sentenced for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol; following Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's pardon, "her passport has been returned to her," says a rep for Norway's foreign ministry. "She can remain in Dubai if she wishes." Not likely: She says she will head home "as soon as possible," AFP reports. Reuters notes that Dalelv had until today been staying at a Norwegian Christian center in Dubai pending an appeal. The man she said raped her was a colleague; both were fired by their company, Al Mana Interiors, for "drinking alcohol at a staff conference that resulted in trouble with the police." The company—which is owned by Wissam al Mana, a Qatari billionaire who is also Janet Jackson's husband—says it initially supported her, CNN reports. "Only when Ms. Dalelv declined to have positive and constructive discussions about her employment status, and ceased communication with her employer, was the company forced to end our relationship with her." The firm also denies a manager told her to claim the sex was consensual: The manager was just translating for police, the company says. (More on the alleged rape here.)