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A British teenage girl has been found guilty of lying about being gang raped by a Cyprus court.

In a case closely followed by rights groups, a district court in Paralimni ruled the young woman, aged 19 at the time, had lied about being sexually abused by 12 Israeli teenagers.

The teen has been found guilty of public mischief at Famagusta District Court.

She was arrested after police said she withdrew an accusation that the Israeli teenagers raped her in a hotel room at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in mid-July.

She had faced charges of public mischief.

(Image: KATIA CHRISTODOULOU/EPA-EFE/REX)

The woman has said she recanted her accusation under duress from police during persistent questioning without a lawyer present.

Prosecutors and the court dismissed that claim.

"My conclusion is that the guilt of the accused has been proven beyond reasonable doubt," the presiding judge said in his verdict, describing her claims as inconsistent and adding that she had attempted to mislead the court.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The woman was a week into a working holiday before she was due to start university, when she alleged she was raped by the group of young Israeli men. The Israelis, who denied any accusation of rape, were released 10 days after their arrest without charge and on the day the woman gave her retracting statement.

They were not summoned to court because prosecutors considered it a case of public mischief and not rape.

In testimony in open court the defendant said she was in a hotel room with one of the Israeli youths who she had a relationship with before others appeared and she was pinned down.

One defence witness, Marios Matsakis, a forensic pathologist who formerly worked for the state, said the woman's injuries were consistent with rape.

Prosecutors say she fabricated the allegation, angry at being filmed during sex.

The young woman's family set up a crowdfunding page asking for money for legal costs, which has raised more than £52,000.