Human rights lawyers in the UK and Cyprus are calling for a pardon for the British teenager convicted of lying about being gang raped.
Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades has been urged to allow the 19-year-old to return to the UK as soon as possible without a stain on her character.
Earlier this week the woman, who has not been identified, was convicted of “causing public mischief”.
She faces being jailed for a year when she is sentenced on Tuesday. But protests have been growing over the case.
Achilleas Demetriades, a leading human rights lawyer, said: “Authorities should absolutely consider a pardon.”
Commercial lawyer Elena Ioannides said the Cypriot legal profession was “very surprised and disappointed that the case has got this far”.
Several legal figures in Cyprus have written a letter to the country’s attorney-general asking him to intervene. In England, Kirsty Brimelow, QC, said the case “reeks of unfairness”.
She said the teenager could bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights. Jonathan Cooper, a human rights barrister, said she had “very good grounds for an appeal”.
A crowdfunding appeal set up to pay legal fees has raked in £105,000. The woman said she was raped by 12 Israeli men in Ayia Napa last July.
She withdrew the allegation during what she says was an eight-hour police interview with no lawyer present.
The UK Government said it is “seriously concerned”.
Cyprus’s government said it had “full confidence” in its courts.
