DUBAI // A man was sentenced to three years in jail while his wife was cleared of charges of trafficking two teenage girls to the UAE.
The Dubai Criminal Court was told the Bangladeshi married couple lured the girls to the country then forced them to work as prostitutes.
The husband MM, 40, and his wife MA, 30, were charged with human trafficking compatriots SAS, 16, and SJS, 15, between April 24 and May 6 this year.
MM was additionally charged with facilitating prostitution for a number of unidentified women.
The couple denied all charges in court in August. MM was found guilty while his wife was acquitted.
Records show the two victims were promised work at beauty salons in Dubai but when they arrived they were locked up, beaten and threatened into working as prostitutes.
“They took my passport then MA told me that I won’t be working in a salon but in prostitution, so I refused but then her husband assaulted me and threatened to lock me up for 10 years if I didn’t,” said SAS.
She added she was first taken to a flat run by a Chinese woman, where she had to sleep with men. She was then moved to another flat and again forced to sell her body for two days before she was moved to a third apartment.
“I worked in the last flat for one day then I started looking for the key to the locked door. When I found it I ran out and screamed for a taxi. The driver was Bangladeshi so I told him what was happening and asked him to take me to police, which he did,” said the victim.
SJS told the court she was beaten and locked up in a room alone for several days because she refused to work as a prostitute.
She said she was moved from one flat to another and in the third one she managed to use a phone and call the police.
Police arrested MM and MA and referred the victims to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
Records show that both girls had to borrow money to pay for visas and plane tickets to the UAE.
“SAS reported the incident at Al Qusais police station on May 24 this year, and on June 9 the same year SJS reported the couple to Al Muraqqabat police station after which we arrested the husband and his wife who denied human trafficking,” testified a 23-year-old policeman, HA.
The husband will be deported after serving his jail term. He can appeal his sentence within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae
