By Peter Berton

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Courts in the emirate of Dubai have been busy this week, both releasing and imprisoning foreign nationals for what are considered “sin crimes” in the United Arab Emirates.

First, Dubai’s ruler pardoned Marte Dalelv, a 24-year-old Norwegian citizen who last week was sentenced to 16 months in jail for having sex outside of marriage after reporting a rape to police. News of the harsh verdict, delivered under a strict interpretation of Islamic law, caused an international outcry, tarnishing the emirate’s reputation as a cosmopolitan tourist destination. Potential damage to its international appeal and one of its major industries reportedly forced the country’s administration to reconsider the punishment.

At about the same time Dalelv was freed, another court sentenced two flight attendants for exchanging what one media outlet called “flirty text messages.”

The flight attendants — one male, one female, both 40-something natives of India — worked as cabin crew for Emirates Airline. Although the woman in the pair is now divorced, she was married at the time she exchanged digital love notes with her co-worker. That put both of them in hot water under UAE law, which classifies even thinking about extramarital affairs as a crime.

“The conviction said the sexual content of the texts suggested the unnamed pair planned to ‘commit sin,’” according to Britain’s Telegraph newspaper. “The court ruling said there was not enough evidence to determine whether the couple had an affair, which would have likely brought a harsher sentence.”

The court originally sentenced each of the illicit texters to six months in jail followed by deportation, but legal wrangling reduced their sentences to only three months’ jail time apiece.

Another case has yet to be resolved: A British couple plans to appeal their one-month jail sentences for exchanging a kiss in a restaurant.