DUBAI // Two women who lured a Moroccan to Dubai with fake promises of a job before forcing her to work as a prostitute have been convicted of human trafficking by Dubai Criminal Court.
A A, 22, from Morocco, was sentenced to three years in jail, while Syrian R A, 28, was sentenced to two years. Both will be deported after completing their prison terms.
Records showed that the victim did not work as a prostitute because her first customer took pity on her.
In court in October this year, A A denied a charge of human trafficking, locking up the victim and forcing her to prostitute herself. R A denied a charge of running a brothel.
The victim told prosecutors she was approached by a woman in her home country who told her about a job in a beauty salon in Dubai.
“I was provided with A A’s phone number and arrived in Dubai on January 24 this year. I called A A who gave me directions where to go,” said the victim.
She arrived at a flat in Al Nahda and was surprised to see seven other Moroccan women there.
“A A took my passport right away then told me I will be working in prostitution,” said the victim.
She said she was taken along with the other women to a hotel in Dubai where they were shown to men. “They were paying Dh1,500 in return for 6 hours with each of the women,” said the victim, who added that after seven days she had not been chosen by any of the men and had not had sex with anyone.
A A then took the victim to a hotel where staff demanded her passport to allow her entry. “She handed them my passport then I met with a Saudi customer who paid A A Dh1,500, then she left. I sat with him and cried so hard and told him my story. He felt compassionate and booked me a ticket back to Morocco and even drove me to the airport,” she said.
At the airport, the woman was not allowed to leave the country because her employment contract had not been cancelled, so she headed to the airport’s police station and told officers what had happened to her.
A A and R A were later arrested.
Policeman S A, 35, testified that when questioned, both defendants denied all charges but after they were confronted by the victim and had evidence seized from their flat, they confessed.
“R A confessed she was prostituting women from Morocco and Syria for Dh700. We found birth control pills and other contraceptive means in her flat,” said S A.
salamir@thenational.ae