Three men have been convicted of raping a woman on Brighton Beach after she was separated from her friends during a night out, in a case prosecutors described as “cynical, predatory and callous”.

An Iranian man, Abdulla Ahmadi, 25, and two Egyptian nationals, Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, and Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, were found guilty at Hove Crown Court following a five-week trial and more than 12 hours of jury deliberation.

Sussex Police said the attack took place in the early hours of October 4 on Brighton seafront, after the victim became isolated from her group. Officers described the investigation as “fast-paced”.

The court heard that all three defendants were living in Home Office-provided accommodation for asylum seekers near Horsham in West Sussex at the time of the offence. Two of the men had crossed the Channel on small boats, while the third had arrived in the UK the previous year.

Prosecutors said the men targeted the victim after she was seen in a vulnerable state, before taking her to an area behind beach huts where the assault took place.

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Alshafe and Ahmadi were each convicted of two counts of rape. Al-Danasurt was found guilty of four counts as a secondary party, after the jury concluded he encouraged the attack and filmed it on his mobile phone.

The court was shown footage in which Alshafe was seen grinning during the attack. He was also accused of striking the victim. All three men denied the charges, claiming the encounter had been consensual.

The victim told the court she believed she was going to die during the ordeal. Giving evidence behind a screen, she said: “It wasn’t consensual… they have ruined my life.” She described waking up on the beach and hearing voices while fearing for her life.

In a recorded police interview, she said she was spat on, kicked, and restrained while the men laughed, and that she believed she was going to be killed.

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC told jurors: “Frankly, to these defendants, the complainant was meat.”

The court heard the defendants had spent part of the evening at a bar and nightclub on Brighton seafront before the attack. One of the men had used a translation app to speak to a woman earlier in the night.

Following the assault, the men returned to their accommodation and later held a barbecue, while the victim was undergoing a forensic medical examination.

Ahmadi later left the accommodation without permission and was arrested several days later in Cheshire. The other two defendants were detained at their hotel in West Sussex.

DNA evidence presented to the court linked two of the defendants to samples recovered from the victim.

Sussex Police Detective Chief Superintendent Richard McDonagh said in a statement outside the court: “These three predatory men took advantage of an extremely vulnerable woman, subjecting her to a prolonged, harrowing ordeal.

“I do not underestimate the strength and courage it required to report this to the police and support the investigation as she dealt with the lasting impact of that morning’s incident. Thanks to this woman’s resolve, we have been able to bring her attackers to justice.

My thanks also extend to the investigative team for their diligent work and our partners for their support to the investigation and the victim.

All three men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Hove Crown Court on July 15, 2026.