Five Israeli men were acquitted of rape charges by a Cypriot court on Monday in a case accusing them of sexual violence against a 20-year-old British woman in 2023 in Cyprus, according to local court rulings.
The five accused, Khaled Khatib, Youssef Sarhan, Amar Mana, Muhammad Amirat, and Lutfi Karim, who were 19-20 years old at the time of the incident, have been detained since then and have denied all accusations.
The men were facing charges including two counts of rape, one count of sexual abuse, one count of coercion to commit sexual intercourse, one count of sexual harassment, and one count of kidnapping.
The case was dismissed after the court rejected the accuser’s testimony, calling her story inconsistent and contradictory.
Cypriot media reported that the case was heard partially behind closed doors and involved several story changes.
According to the case, the young woman said she was at a pool party at her hotel when she was dragged away by one of the five men, who she claimed tried to take off her swimsuit before the others appeared in the room.
She said she begged to be let go before being raped and was forced to perform oral sex acts on another of the men and that she was pinned down on the bed and then the wall by multiple men who forced her to have sex with them.
According to the court, her testimony was found “unconvincing” and noted that the number of assailants changed over time, as well as the specific sexual acts and corresponding identities of assailants.
Witnesses in adjacent rooms disputed her claim that she was shouting, claiming they did not hear anything despite their rooms being next door.
Additionally, identifying the people allegedly involved in her violent assault led to contradictions, and her explanations of said contradictions were deemed erratic and unconvincing, according to Cypriot media.
It is important to note that in cases of rape and sexual assault, many of which go unreported, the trauma of the act can lead to a lack of clarity on specific details as well as the fear of having to re-tell details at any level.
The young woman was reportedly found to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. However, the court believed that this did not prevent her from consenting.
The Famagusta Permanent Criminal Court also acknowledged that injuries on the accuser’s body had no definitive link to non-consensual acts and left open the possibility that the injuries were caused either in consensual activity or other unnamed instances.
In a similar case, a British woman who reported to police that she was raped by Israelis in Ayia Napa five years ago did not face an effective investigation, and her rights to respect for private and family life were not upheld, the European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday.
Additionally, the woman’s credibility was apparently assessed through prejudice against women and victim-blaming attitudes, the court added.
The court's ruling
The court ruled that Cyprus must pay the woman €20,000 and another €5,000 for legal expenses.
The court released its judgment in the case of “X.” (the woman’s alias) v. Cyprus, which concerned the British woman who had reported that she was gang-raped by a group of Israelis in 2019.
Following her report, 12 Israeli suspects were arrested, and an investigation was opened. However, the woman was accused of falsely claiming she was raped and signed a retraction, with a Cypriot court sentencing her to four months in jail for charges of public mischief for filing a false complaint.
Eve Young contributed to this report.