A Sharjah criminal court recently charged a GCC military official and his teenage cousin with having premarital sex, Khaleej Times reported.
The relationship was reported to police after the girl fell unconscious at school, just to be found pregnant. When interrogated by officers, the teen accused her cousin of starting an illicit relationship with her.
The girl's cousin told her he loved her but said marriage is out of the picture because her mother would never approve of their relationship.
Soon after, he started secretly visiting her without the knowledge of her family.
After the girl's statement to the police, the man was brought in for questioning. During his interrogation, he denied having a sexual relationship with his underage cousin.
However, he was detained after lab tests proved he had sex with the girl.
The teen wasn't let go and was placed under police custody in a juvenile center. Her mother asked the court to release her, but she wasn't granted bail.
Though the girl is underage, she still faces charges in the case and will be tried along with the male defendant.
Sex outside of marriage is illegal in the UAE
If an unmarried UAE-based couple is found to be having a sexual relationship, they can face legal trouble in the country.
In some cases, simply meeting in private can land people in jail. This isn't the first time a couple faces illicit sex charges in the UAE, and in recent years, several similar cases have been reported.
In 2018, the Dubai Court of First Instance charged an Emirati man and an Uzbek woman of having an illicit relationship that resulted in a child.
Months before that, police arrested a Jordanian woman and her Emirati boyfriend after her father reported their relationship to authorities.
In 2016, a British woman received a jail time and deportation sentence for having consensual sex with an Emirati man.
Another similar case was also reported that same year, when a UAE-based British woman was charged with having consensual sex with a Pakistani man.