UK woman convicted of falsely accusing Israelis of rape appeals sentence
The British teenager was convicted for lying about being gang-raped by a group of young Israeli men but she states that the police forced her to retract her accusations.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFA British woman, accused of lying about being gang raped, covers her face as she arrives at the Famagusta courthouse in Paralimni, Cyprus, January 7, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/YIANNIS KOURTOGLOU)
The British teenager convicted in Cyprus for lying about being gang-raped by a group of young Israeli men appealed against her sentence, The Guardian reported on Thursday.The woman was found guilty of public mischief and sentenced to a four month suspended jail term on January 7 in a trial that raised “concerns” among the UK authorities and rights groups, including Israeli ones.In July, the British citizen, who was on vacation in Ayia Napa, went to the police to report being gang-raped. As a result, local authorities detained the group of Israelis accused of the crime. The woman later confessed she had lied about being raped in revenge for being filmed. But she subsequently claimed the police forced her to sign a confession written by them without giving her access to a lawyer. After the confession, she spent over a month in prison and her passport was confiscated by Cypriot authorities.Following the sentence she was allowed to return home, but her lawyer stated that they would appeal the decision.“We will be seeking an expedited appeal to the Supreme Court of Cyprus and we will also be considering going to the European Court of Human Rights,” Lewis Power QC told the BBC at the time.“We do not feel we have had justice in terms of how the trial progressed, the manner in which it was conducted, the initial police investigation and the fact that we feel she did not receive a fair trial,” he added.
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