A British woman found guilty last year of concoting false gang rape claims against a dozen Israeli tourists has launched a legal bid to overturn her conviction.

The woman, who is now 21 and cannot be named publicly, alleged she was raped by the group while they were holidaying in Ayia Napa in Cyprus in July 2019. 

She received a four-month suspended sentence last year after a court found her guilty of “public mischief”, ruling she had lied about the allegations. 

But her legal team has argued that the retraction statement she signed last year was “unreliable” and should have been ruled inadmissible in court.

An appeal hearing was held on Thursday at the country's top court in Nicosia. Protesters showed their support for the woman as they gathered outside the Supreme Court building.

Reuters reports a ruling is expected within six months.

Justice Abroad - the legal aid group coordinating her appeal - also said her retraction statement should have been excluded because she suffered from PTSD at the time.   

The UK-group’s director Michael Polak said the case was a “seminal one for the protection of human rights in Cyprus as well as the treatment of those who report sexual offences.”

Defence lawyer Lewis Power expressed hope she would be allowed to “free herself from the shackles of an unjust conviction which has tarnished her young life”. 

He said: “It has been both shocking and distressing and has for her been deeply harrowing, humiliating and personally intrusive. 

"Yet she has risen above this with grit and determination and has courageously resolved to continue to fight this case to the end where she believes that justice will be done.”