DUBAI--An appeal hearing was held on Sunday in the case of two Emiratis convicted last year of raping a French-Swiss teenager, the boy's lawyer said, after the victim was found to be clear of the AIDS virus.

The court in Dubai handled preliminary details before the judge adjourned the case until January 27 to allow the defense more time to prepare its case, Hussein al-Jaziri told AFP by telephone.

The defense wants the 15-year jail sentences handed down to the two United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals on December 12 to be quashed. A third defendant is being tried in a juvenile court.

Prosecutors have demanded the maximum punishment, which could mean the death penalty.

The European teenager raped by the Emiratis, including an HIV positive assailant, has been found to be clear of the sexually transmittable disease, Jaziri said on Saturday.

"Medical tests have proven that he did not contract the AIDS infection," he told AFP.

"It is exactly six months since he was attacked," the lawyer said, adding that the teenager's mother had informed him of the test result by phone. "She was crying with joy."

The victim had previously tested negative for the disease but it can take up to six months for the virus to appear.

The mother, Veronique Robert, has launched a media campaign to publicize the case and muster support for her demand that the UAE recognize homosexual rape in its legal system and set up adequate bodies to treat AIDS victims.

She has protested against the verdict, saying that "15 years is nothing for someone who knew he had AIDS".

Three men had offered the victim a lift from a Dubai mall on July 14, before driving into the desert where the teenager was raped while being threatened with a knife and billiard cue, according to the charges.

Defense lawyers claimed the victim had consented to sex and had lied to the Emirati authorities. The sex act was "in consent and not forced" on the teenager, they said.

The case was widely reported in the Western media, denting the liberal image of Dubai as a regional leisure and business hub.