A high court in Dubai will on Monday give a final verdict in an appeal launched by two Emiratis jailed for 15 years for the rape of a French-Swiss teenager, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

"The high court will sit on April 7 to announce its verdict," in an appeal lodged by the lawyers of the two convicts against their convictions, lawyer Hussein al-Jaziri told AFP.

On February 17, an appeal court in the Gulf emirate upheld the prison sentences, while defence lawyers wanted the December 12 sentences to be quashed.

Prosecutors had called for the maximum punishment, which is the death penalty in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.

A third defendant was sentenced to three years in prison by a juvenile court and awaits a verdict by an appeal court this Sunday, Jaziri said.

One of the men who raped the European teenager was HIV-positive although the victim has since been tested and found not to be infected with the sexually transmittable disease.

The boy's mother, Veronique Robert, launched a media campaign to publicise the case and gather support for her demand that the UAE recognise homosexual rape in its legal system and set up institutions to treat AIDS sufferers.

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

Three men offered the victim a lift from a Dubai mall last July 14 but then drove into the desert where the 15-year-old was raped while being threatened with a knife and a billiard cue.

Defence lawyers claimed the victim had consented to sex and had lied to the Emirati authorities.

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