UAE | Crime
Longest jail term handed to eight human traffickers
Men convicted of kidnapping and forcing woman into prostitution
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 March 10, 2011
Dubai: A court handed out the lengthiest prison term since 2006 when the UAE's anti-human trafficking law was issued.
The sentence was handed down to eight human traffickers who kidnapped and sexually exploited a 20-year-old housemaid.
The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced a Pakistani driver and five Bangladeshi men to life in prison. Two other Bangladeshi men were jailed for 15 years.
Prosecutors charged the eight convicts — aged between 24 and 38 — with forming an organised gang of human traffickers. They posed as policemen, kidnapping the Bangladeshi housemaid (A.S.), exploiting her youth, and forcing her into prostitution.
They were accused of carrying out their crime after assaulting, threatening and coercing her to have sex with strangers.
Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi, who heads the special tribunal that handles human trafficking cases, convicted the eight defendants and issued six life sentences and two 15-year prison terms.
Chief Prosecutor Esmail Ali Madani asked the court to implement the toughest punishment, a life sentence, against the defendants.
Yesterday's verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
Denial
All the convicts denied their charges and pleaded not guilty.
According to the charge sheet, the convicts posed as policemen, threatened to use force against A.S., kidnapped her from a villa and locked her in a flat in Naif where they forced her into prostitution.
According to her prosecution statement, A.S. testified that the incident happened immediately after she absconded from her sponsor and went to a house in Al Quoz.
"I was sleeping around 1.30am when six of the defendants claimed they were from the police and asked to see my personal identification… they forced me out of the house after I told them that I wasn't carrying any ID. Afraid of them, I was obliged to put on my abaya and go with them. I was surprised when they pushed and beat me."
"They locked me in a flat which was being run as a brothel. One of the defendants, 28-year-old M.R., raped me in a bedroom… then he took me out and told his associates that I was ready to work as a prostitute," A.S. said.
According to court records, one of the accused had bought her for Dh10,000 to work for him in the sex trade.
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