Five Israelis arrested after British woman reports gang rape in Ayia Napa, Cyprus

Greek Cypriot police on Sunday arrested five Israeli men – two aged 20 and three 19 – after a 20-year-old British woman alleged she had been raped by several youths in her Ayia Napa hotel.

The young woman, who is on holiday in Cyprus, gave a statement to Famagusta Police on Sunday afternoon, Philenews reported on Monday.

And after relevant investigations police arrested the five Israelis who will appear before the district’s court on Monday for a remand order.

The news brings back memories of a similar case that had shamed Cyprus in 2019 when 12 Israelis had been arrested – again in Ayia Napa – over the rape of a British teenager.

Two and a half years later, the British woman had her conviction for allegedly lying about the attack overturned.

The woman, 19 at the time, had told police she had been raped by 12 Israeli men and boys but had retracted the allegation after being held without a lawyer. She was then tried and convicted of causing public mischief.

Her conviction was overturned at the Supreme Court in Cyprus in January 2022.

The woman’s case had outraged women’s rights campaigners and not only.

In-Cyprus