Dubai: An Iraqi businesswoman and her husband have been jailed for one year each after a court convicted them of forging marriage certificates to bring in prostitutes from Baghdad.

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday found the 36-year-old businesswoman, S.M., and her 45-year-old husband, I.A., guilty of forging government stamps on marriage certificates which they used to bring in a number of Iraqis to work as dancers and prostitutes.

Imprisonment

Pronouncing yesterday's judgment, Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad sentenced four Iraqi girls to three months in jail each for prostitution.

The married couple pleaded not guilty to the charges.

"That's absolutely untrue. The girls don't even know me and they haven't seen me before," argued I.A. when he defended himself in court.

S.M. pleaded not guilty and said: "I haven't done anything wrong. Basically, the first time I saw the forged documents was when prosecutors questioned me."

The six Iraqis will be deported after the completion of their jail terms. The primary judgment is still subject to appeal within 15 days.

The Public Prosecution charged I.A. with forging the exit stamp of Rashid Port, the entry and exit stamps of Dubai International Airport and the Foreign Ministry's stamp in Sharjah.

According to the arraignment sheet, he marked those stamps on the marriage certificates and pasted a number of used UAE stamps on them.

The wife was charged with aiding and abetting her husband in forgery.

Additional charges

She was additionally charged with encouraging a number of girls to work as dancers and prostitutes after bringing them from Baghdad using the faked marriage certificates.

A 31-year-old Iraqi female photojournalist, R.M., was charged with aiding and abetting the businesswoman in allowing girls to work in the sex trade.

Two of three Iraqi girls, aged between 18 and 24, denied the charge of prostitution.

Raid

An Emirati first lieutenant, at the Dubai General Department for Residency and Foreigners Affairs, told the court: "The Iraqi couple was forging marriage certificates to bring in girls to work in the sex trade in Dubai and Sharjah.

"Cooperating with Sharjah police, we raided their flat in Sharjah. We arrested I.A. and S.M. and seized the forged documents.

"We confiscated a number of electronic devices, often used by criminals to forge documents."

Prosecutors said police seized a huge amount of cash and jewellery.

A 22-year-old Iraqi girl, M.A., confessed that the businesswoman was her pimp.