9 accused of kidnapping Dubai salon worker for ransom

Dubai: Six women and three men accused of confining a salon worker in an apartment and demanding Dh700,000 as ransom have pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

The victim, a 29-year-old Moroccan woman, was allegedly also filmed naked after being forced to strip in the incident that happened in September last year. She was also beaten.

The defendants include six women — five Moroccans and an Ethiopian — and three Egyptian men.

Of the defendants, a 26-year-old woman was accused of masterminding the crime. According to the charge-sheet, she breached the victim’s modesty and privacy by forcing her to remove her clothes and filming her undressed.

She was also accused of threatening to post the video on the internet if the victim’s brother, who lives in Morocco, did not pay the ransom. She was also charged with damaging the victim’s passport by tearing it. She also threatened to kill the woman.

The remaining defendants were charged with aiding and abetting the crime.

According to prosecution records, the main accused forwarded the video via WhatsApp to the victim’s brother and asked him to pay around Dh700,000 for his sister’s release.

The brother asked his friend, a Dubai-based chauffeur, to report the matter to police and provided the police with a copy of the video.

The victim testified to prosecutors that the incident happened after she left a shopping centre and was heading back to her home in Sharjah at 8pm.

“I was waiting for a taxi when a car stopped beside me ... I was forced into the car and later confined in the flat. I was beaten, insulted, cursed, tied up, denied food and left in an unhygienic condition. [The main accused] in collaboration with others forced me to undress, filmed me and forced me to say that I am a dirty woman … she then forwarded the video to my brother to blackmail him. She also called him from her mobile phone and made me ask him to give the money to her brother,” the victim claimed.

The chauffeur testified that the brother called him from Morocco and asked for help.

“My friend informed me about the kidnap and ransom issue … he forwarded me a copy of the video and images on WhatsApp. I contacted Dubai Police’s Al Ameen Service. I was guided to lodge a police complaint and which I did immediately,” he claimed.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that police raided the apartment and arrested the defendants.

The trial continues.