UAE | General
'I am a victim of organised crime'
Sharla Musabeh denied the accusations against her in a telephone call to Gulf News from Ethiopia, where she is opening a City of Hope branch in the capital Addis Ababa.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:03 March 9, 2008
- Image Credit: Bassma Al Jandaly/Gulf News
- A former resident of the shelter. Women are claiming the owner of the shelter forced them to speak to the media and treated them as servants.
Dubai: Sharla Musabeh denied the accusations against her in a telephone call to Gulf News from Ethiopia, where she is opening a City of Hope branch in the capital Addis Ababa.
She says she is being targeted by international mafia bosses involved in human trafficking to the UAE.
"I have been targeted by organised crime and by ignorant people in the system. I have received support from countries across the world. They don't understand what I'm doing because domestic violence is taboo in this part of the world.
"I am the victim of defamation from people who want to ruin my image. They accuse me of taking money from the media in return for stories of women in my villa. It is not true. Two Uzbek women in my villa were told I received $4,000 from an American media organisation. It is just not true."
Sharla also accused a number of diplomatic missions in the UAE of "aiding human trafficking".
"The Uzbek Consulate and [other individuals] in the UAE are aiding human trafficking. People are pushed by human trafficking mafias in order to spoil my image. I am a human rights activist and human rights activists are always targeted," she said.
She also denies selling a Russian woman's newborn baby.
"I've never had any Russian woman in my villa and no one was pregnant when they came to me. This woman is in a Dubai jail and she has been paid to say things about me. Diplomatic missions who issue outpasses to their citizens must be involved in human trafficking.
Rights
"I am trying to prevent the Uzbek consulate from issuing outpasses to the two women involved. They must stay in Dubai to fight for their rights. I am a respectful woman and my aim is to serve Islam and the Arab world," she said.
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