DUBAI // Dubai’s Court of Appeal today has reduced a security guard’s three-year sentence to one year for human trafficking.
The court had convicted the Bangladeshi man of running a brothel and facilitating prostitution. Prosecutors claim that the man brought two women from Kyrgyzstan last July with the promise of good jobs.
The women arrived through Dubai International Airport then were taken to a flat in Barsha Heights, where they claimed they had been locked up and forced to work in a brothel.
One of the women sent her brother a WhatsApp message explaining what had happened and he contacted Kyrgyzstan consulate in Dubai.
When police raided the apartment on July 19, they discovered that it had been divided into small bedrooms. They reported that the defendant was behind a desk in the flat and four women were present.
Two consular employees were already there.
The defendant denied charges of human trafficking and running a brothel in both the Criminal and Appeal Courts.
"When I questioned him about the place he said it was a massaging centre," said an Emirati policeman.
The guard was sentenced to three years to be followed by deportation by Dubai Criminal Court but at the appeals, his term was reduced to one year.
The Bangladeshi man will still be deported after serving his term.
The women, aged 24 and 21, denied charges of prostitution, saying they were forced to work in the brothel. The women were found guilty of willingly working in prostitution and sentenced to six months in jail each to be followed by deportation.
The court also ordered the flat to be shut down.
