Protesters were today set to march on Downing Street in support of a British teenager facing a prison sentence after being found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus.
The 19-year-old from Derbyshire could receive up to a year in jail and a €1,700 (£1,500) fine after she was convicted of public mischief at Famagusta district court last Monday.
Demonstrators were expected to set off from outside the Cypriot Embassy in St James’s Square to march to Downing Street and the Foreign Office.
The teenager said she was raped by up to a dozen Israeli men in Ayia Napa on July 17. Twelve men were arrested but then freed and the teenager was charged after signing a retraction 10 days later.
She maintains she was raped but says she was forced to change her account under pressure from Cypriot police.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, appearing on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday, warned that the case now needs to be handled “very sensitively” to prevent doing anything “counter-productive” before sentencing.
The Foreign Office previously said it was “seriously concerned” about the “fair trial guarantees in this deeply distressing case and we will be raising the issue with Cypriot authorities”.
