Imam convicted of rape loses appeal.

From: News from Norway.

A forty one year old imam was earlier today sentenced to jail for two years and nine months, for raping a thirty year old woman at the Islamic Center in Kristiansand, in October 2004.

The case was first dismissed by the courts because of insufficient evidence, but that decision was overruled by the state prosecutors office when the woman’s attorney appealed the decision.

The imam was sentenced to jail for two and a half years in February this year, by the city court in Kristiansand. The imam appealed this verdict, but the Agder court of appeals found the him guilty today, according to local newspaper Fædrelandsvennen.

He was also ordered to pay the women 125 000 Nkr (approx $ 15 000 US) in damages.

The woman was standing outside a restaurant in the city centre of Kristiansand on the evening of the crime, when she was approached by the imam, who offered her consolation and tea. The two of them then proceeded to the Islamic Center in Kristiandsand, where, according to the verdict, the imam raped the woman.

The court considered it an aggravating factor that the suspect was an imam and a spiritual adviser, and pointed out that he should have understood that the victim was in a very vulnerable state at the time.

- I’m relieved and very happy that the court believed me. I am now finally ready to look ahead and focus on the future.-

The imam has fourteen days to appeal this verdict.