“Prison for the ‘husband’ who raped women with a forged marriage certificate.”
Dubai – An Emirati businessman has been sentenced to three years in prison for forgery and sexual assault after a court ruled that he deceived a woman into believing she was legally married to him. Originally charged with cohabitating with a woman outside of marriage, the charges were upgraded to sexual assault when the forgery of the marriage certificate was discovered. H.K., 32, was arrested.
When questioned by the police, the woman presented a marriage certificate she believed to be legitimate. In reality, H.K. used a marriage certificate from a previous marriage in 2000 and altered the names and details associated with it. The couple was accused of forging an official document and engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage. In a hearing in August, S.A.’s lawyer argued that her client had been deceived and misled into sleeping with the man. Yasser Saad told the Criminal Court that his client had been under the impression since 2006 that she was married to H.K. He stated that she had signed a document in Arabic, which she could not read, and believed it to be a marriage certificate.
The lawyer argued that since his client had been deceived, the charge of sexual assault should be dropped as she had not consented to a sexual relationship outside of marriage. H.K.’s lawyer, Nasser Hashem, responded by stating that the marriage was secretive but not illegal. S.A. was acquitted of all charges.
Source: https://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/hهاد-who-fooled-woman-with-forged-marriage-certificate-is-jailed-1.517484