Five Israelis held in Cyprus on suspicion of raping British woman

Five Israelis are being held in police custody in Cyprus after a 20-year-old British woman accused them of raping her in the coastal resort town of Ayia Napa.

A Cypriot court ordered the men to be held for eight days pending the investigation.

A law enforcement official said three of the Israelis are 19 years old and the remaining two are 20, the Associated Press reported.

The Israeli foreign ministry said it received a report that six Israeli citizens had been arrested in connection with the alleged rape, but no reason was given for the discrepancy in the number of arrests.

The ministry said in a statement that it is in touch with both Cypriot authorities and the families of the detained Israelis.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told the BBC: “We are supporting a British woman in Cyprus and are in contact with the local authorities.”

According to the Times of Israel, the suspects are being represented by Nir Yaslovitz, who was the defence lawyer in a similar case in 2019.

“According to the police in Cyprus, there is a serious suspicion, but unfortunately we have experience with such cases. I hope that the truth will come out,” he told Channel 12 news.

In 2019, an 18-year-old British woman said she was attacked by a group of 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel in Ayia Napa, but was later convicted of making a false allegation.

The case prompted outcry over the way the case was handled by the Cypriot authorities.

Last year the Supreme Court of Cyprus overturned the verdict. Her lawyers said the teenager did not receive a “fair trial” and that the conviction breached her rights under Cypriot law.

The teenager maintained she was raped, but was forced to change her account of the events under pressure from Cypriot police following hours of questioning alone and without legal representation.