Although I am an ardent feminist, and believe the sex was nonconsensual, in fact, the gov't was put in an awkward position when she retracted her initial accusation of rape:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/20/world/...pe-controversy
AND
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-n...dubai-sex-case
From what I can gather, she was advised by the authorities to retract her rape allegation so as to make the whole thing go away. Once she did, she was then accused of having (consensual) sex outside of marriage (ridiculous, but look, that's the law of the land. And, FYI, that's why you don't want religion dictating your laws, are you listening, GOP?
), and making a false statement to the authorities, which, I think, is also illegal here, yes? And also of consuming alcohol (see: religion, above).
When she was pardoned, the Sudanese man was also pardoned (he was initially convicted of the same charges she was), and both were fired from their jobs (same company) for drinking and causing trouble with the police.
Again- she had retracted the accusation of rape, so that wasn't even a considerable charge by the time the court got to it. She may have dropped the accusation because she was pressured to (hardly surprising; happens here all the time, too) but it doesn't change what the court had in front of them when the time came to sentence. And they didn't have a rape allegation by then.