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A charity is advising UK nationals not to report rapes to the Dubai police after a sex attack victim was arrested when she went to the authorities for help.

The 25-year-old woman was locked up by police after telling them she had been gang-raped by two British men in a Dubai hotel room.

She has reportedly been released on bail but had her passport confiscated and could face charges of having extra-marital sex.

Radha Stirling, the founder of Detained in Dubai, told the Independent that Dubai police assumed Western women were "looking for it".

Ms Stirling claimed British people could potentially fall foul of the countries strict law as for reporting rape or any other crime.

She said: "There is the social perception that if a woman drinks alcohol, she has consented to it.

"And there’s also a racist mentality of thinking, ‘She’s British so she was probably drunk and asking for it’.”

"We get people contacting us asking whether they should report a crime and – whether it be a rape or anything else – I often say no," she said. "Absolutely not."

The woman's alleged attackers have since flown home to the UK without any action being taken against them.

Ms Stirling told the website: "It is quite possible she’ll be charged and held. If the assailants have left the country the police have obviously got no counter evidence.

"They could just factually go on sex outside of marriage if there is no evidence of an assault.”

She is now calling on British embassies to provide more advice and support to British victims in the United Arab Emirates.