efficient and is fair to all parties involved , '' al Mulla said . The case began in July , when the two men , 36 and 18 , kidnapped and raped the French teenager at knifepoint . Robert contacted French diplomats , who took up the allegations with Dubai authorities . Al Mulla said police action was swift and arrests were made within 24 hours . But Robert has said the case was botched from the start , beginning with her son 's examination by a doctor who said her son was gay . Homosexuality in Dubai is illegal , and the teen could have faced as much as a year in prison . Robert 's son has since returned to France and was not in court for Wednesday 's sentencing . Robert has also said Dubai authorities repeatedly concealed evidence -- confirmed in court papers -- that one of the attackers was HIV-positive . Robert said her son , who is still awaiting test results to find out whether he has the virus , could have gotten treatment much sooner had they known . Dubai authorities deny any evidence was concealed . The case has shed light on
DUBAI -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A court in Dubai sentenced two men Wednesday to 15 years in prison for the rape and kidnapping of a 15-year-old French boy . Veronique Robert , mother of the 15-year-old French-Swiss teen , speaking outside a court in Dubai . The boy 's mother , Veronique Robert , was visibly upset after the sentence was read and promised to appeal . Robert , a French journalist , brought the case to the media 's attention in recent months in an effort to shed light on what she deemed to be injustices in the pro-Western emirate of Dubai . Robert said Wednesday 's sentence was too lenient for a crime that she believes is tantamount to attempted murder because one of her son 's attackers was knowingly HIV-positive at the time of the rape . She refrained from asking the death penalty for her son 's attackers , but said she hoped the sentence would be much longer . A spokesman for the Dubai government , Habib al Mulla , told CNN the sentence was in accordance with international standards and was not lenient . `` Today 's verdict has proven that the system is