Dubai: A woman has been cleared of working in the sex industry after she was accused of prostitution despite having complained that a man raped her in her home,

The 40-year-old Egyptian woman was reportedly said to have picked up two men from the street and allowed them into her flat where she convinced them to have sex for Dh150 with her in December.

Citing lack of sufficient evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the woman who had pleaded not guilty and firmly refuted her accusations.

When she entered her plea, the woman said she reported to the police that she had been raped and that she did not have paid sex with Saudi men.

“I did not do so,” she told the court.

A police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors that the woman initially reported to Dubai Police’s Operation Room that an African man broke into her flat and raped her.

“On checking her flat’s broken door, the woman said the African broke into her flat. The door’s lock was apparently broken from inside. We suspected the woman’s claims about her being raped. On examining the surveillance cameras in the building, the footage clearly showed her walking two men into her flat with a 30-minute time difference between each man. Upon confronting her with the footage, the woman initially claimed that the first man was asking her about a person who lived in the building.

“Then she willingly admitted that she had stopped a Saudi man in the street and convinced him to have paid sex with her in her flat. She also claimed that when she finished with the first man, she went out into the street and picked up another man. She said that she convinced the second man to go up to her place and have sex with her for Dh150. The woman alleged that she could not continue having sex with the second man because she started menstruating. The Egyptian gave her statement verbally … however when we asked her to sign on the written confession, she refused. She also retracted her statement,” the lieutenant claimed.

A policewoman, who attended the interrogation, claimed to prosecutors that she heard the suspect confessing that she had paid sex.

In her defence before the court, the Egyptian woman strongly denied picking up any man at 10.30pm from the street or having paid sex with anyone.

The ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.