Life sentences for kidnapping, forced prostitution

Woman was taken from her home, beaten and raped, according to prosecutors.

DUBAI // Six men who were found guilty of kidnapping a girl and selling her were sentenced to life in prison by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance this morning, while two of their accomplices got 15 years each.

According to court records, in January 2010 the Bangladeshi men MA, 38, a driver; JA, 24, an electrician; MR, 28, a worker; SM, 25, and MS, 26, painters; MJ, 26, and MAS, 25, workers; and NS, 24, a carpenter, broke into the victim's house in Al Qouz, which she shared with others. They pretended to be police officers and kidnapped her, telling her she was

wanted by police.

Records said they assaulted a driver who lived in the house and stole his mobile and wallet before they dragging the 20-year-old victim to a waiting car. The driver told prosecutors he followed them out wrote down the vehicle’s number, then called the Naif police station.

The victim told prosecutors she was taken to an apartment in Naif, where she was told she had been sold to a man for Dh10,000 to work in prostitution.

She said that when she refused, she was beaten with a belt, then raped by MR.

SM and NS were accused of running a brothel and sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by deportation.

The victim, also Bangladeshi, said she worked as a maid, but lived outside her sponsor’s house.

When the police tracked the defendants through their vehicle’s tag number and located their apartment, they broke in and found several other women who had been held against their will and forced into prostitution, records show.