SHARJAH, UAE — A South African dive assistant jailed in Sharjah for allegedly having sex with her Emirati boss has been released early after being pardoned by the ruler of the conservative UAE emirate. Roxanne Hillier was freed on Thursday, weeks before she was due to be released and deported, amid mounting criticism of the sentence and an international campaign to have the 22-year-old released. A Sharjah court jailed Hillier for three months in May following a police raid of her married boss's dive company premises in Sharjah. He was downstairs working, while she was in an upstairs room where she had locked the door. Her 41-year-old boss was acquitted of all charges. Under UAE law adultery and pre-marital sex carries a jail sentence. In Sharjah, unrelated men and women are not allowed to be alone together. The verdict was handed down in the face of forensic tests taken shortly after Hillier's arrest that proved she not had sex with her boss, her parents claim. Hillier announced her newfound freedom through a Facebook web page, set up by her family as part of the campaign to have her released. "Well, I am free," she said. Hillier said she was exhausted both "mentally and physically". "Everything is fantastic the grass seems greener, the skies more blue and every cushion a piece of heaven for me," she wrote. It is understood that Hillier will return to South Africa early Monday morning. Hillier's father, Freddie, told reporters last week that he was concerned for her mental health and that she would need counselling when she finally got out of jail. | 
