Dubai: Five people who were accused of exploiting a woman and forcing her into prostitution denied the charges at the Criminal Court.

The five suspects, who include two women, from Pakistan, were accused of committing a human trafficking offence by bringing the 23-year-old woman from Pakistan to Dubai and sexually exploiting her.

Prosecutors said the accused had convinced the victim’s husband about a good job opportunity for his wife in Dubai and guaranteed him that she would get good pay if she worked at a ladies’ salon, but the five suspects ended up locking her in a flat and forcing her into the sex trade.

As stated in the Public Prosecution records, when the victim landed in Sharjah with the two female suspects and one of the male suspects, she was taken to an apartment to spend a night before going to Dubai and introducing her to her new job.

The next day, the victim was taken to an apartment in Dubai, which was rented by one of the suspects, E.S. She was then asked to accompany him to a hotel where she would be briefed on her new job.

While they were in the hotel’s lobby, a man handed one of the female suspects, K.A., money and she then forced the victim to accompany the man to the room. When the victim refused, K.A. began threatening to take her phone and passport. The victim slept with the man against her will and returned to the same apartment.

The next day, when the victim asked them to give her the passport, they refused, and K.A. started beating her until they forced her to agree to sleep with another man again.

A day later, after a disagreement between the suspects, she was taken back to the Sharjah apartment and was promised a flight back to Pakistan, but when K.A. refused and insisted that the victim would stay, they ended up locking her in a room. When she asked them to release her to get a SIM card to call her family, she was able to escape and report the incident to Dubai Police.

According to the same court records, the first two female suspects, K.A. and R.A., were also accused of prostitution apart from being involved in the human trafficking case, and the rest of the suspects were charged with exploiting the two female suspects and other girls from Pakistan by bringing them to Dubai on false promises and forcing them into the sex industry.

The next hearing will be on September 21.