Dubai: Two women have been jailed for three years each for luring their three countrywomen with bogus job offers and later coercing them into prostitution.

The Moroccan women, aged 22 and 39, tricked their countrywomen, aged between 20 and 27, and made them sign security cheques against promises of getting them hired at a salon and a sports club in October 2015.

After the women were flown into Dubai one at a time, the two defendants withheld their passports, kept them in a flat in Al Muraqqabat and then forced them to have sex with strangers for money in different hotels.

The Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday convicted the two defendants of exploiting their countrywomen sexually and forcing them into prostitution. They were also convicted of working in prostitution.

Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the defendants will be deported after serving their jail terms.

The female defendants had pleaded not guilty and denied sexually exploiting their countrywomen and working in prostitution.

The accused exploited their countrywomen’s weakness and need for a job before they tricked them into coming to Dubai, making them sign security cheques worth Dh34,000 and then forcing them to have sex with men.

A 21-year-old victim said she came to Dubai to work in a gym in Abu Dhabi but the defendants took her passport away.

“They took me first to a flat where they kept me there and coerced me to work in prostitution. I refused from the beginning … but later they forced me to do it. The 39-year-old accused beat me with a shisha hose pulled my hair and assaulted me.

"I grudgingly agreed after she blackmailed me saying that she would submit the security cheque that I had given her earlier in the bank and that she would inform my family in Morocco that I was working in prostitution. The first client I was forced to have sex with paid me Dh2,500.

"Then I was made to have paid sex with other men in different hotels … until one day I escaped and took refuge at a friend’s place. Then I reported to Dubai Police’s human rights section,” she testified.

A 20-year-old woman victim testified that she was flown into Dubai in the same manner.

“I needed to come to Dubai to work so the 39-year-old [through an acquaintance] made me sign a security cheque after she promised to have me hired in a salon against a Dh3,000 salary. When I arrived, they kept my passport and forced me into prostitution under coercion. The 22-year-old defendant blackmailed me, saying that she would use the cheque and send my photos to my family,” she claimed.

A third woman gave a similar statement before prosecutors.

A lieutenant at Dubai Police’s anti-human trafficking section said the defendants were arrested after they raided their flat in Al Muraqqabat.

Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.