A female tourist who recently visited Abu Dhabi is being tried by the city's Court of First Instance for illicit sexual relations she had with a friend in the UAE, Gulf News reported.
The 32-year-old was accused of having sex out of wedlock and kissing men who stayed in an apartment with her.
After the women denied both charges, the court asked her to produce evidence through a defense lawyer.
The presiding judge of the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance also asked her whether or not she knew "that having sexual intercourse and intimate kissing out of marriage are considered a crime in the UAE.”
After the first hearing in the case, which took place on Tuesday, the prosecution officially charged the woman with "having sexual intercourse out of wedlock and kissing others intimately."
The next hearing in her case is scheduled for September 6.
Not the only case this week
On Tuesday, the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance also charged two Arab nationals with "having illicit relations and kissing out of wedlock."
Both the accused denied the charges before the court.
The judge asked both defendants to produce evidence of their innocence in the next case hearing, which is scheduled for September 6.
Similar cases on the rise in the UAE
This isn't the first time people face illicit sex charges in the UAE.
In recent months, several similar cases have been reported.
These include the case of a British woman who was jailed for having consensual sex with an Emirati man. The woman will later be deported from the UAE.
Earlier this month, a Romanian woman received a jail sentence for having extra-marital sex on a yacht in the country.
Months before that, another British woman was charged with having consensual sex with a Pakistani man and is now appealing a one-year jail sentence.
Earlier this year, a Japanese couple was also detained and interrogated after they were caught having sex on a Dubai beach.
A Dubai court later handed the duo a one-month suspended imprisonment and an immediate deportation order.