Dubai: A woman lost her appeal on Wednesday and will be jailed for 10 years for forging passports to fly in young girls to Dubai and forcing them into prostitution.
A 16-year-old Iraqi girl had absconded from a villa, where she was forced to have sex with strangers, and took shelter at a Sharjah mosque for three days in May 2017.
The teenager met a Palestinian woman at the mosque and told her about her ordeal before she took her to a police station.
The 16-year-old victim said to anti-human trafficking police officers that a 64-year-old Iraqi woman incited her to flee from her parents’ house in Baghdad, provided her with a forged passport, flew her to Dubai and made her work in prostitution with her 32-year-old daughter.
Police raided the villa where the 32-year-old daughter had kept girls under her supervision and coerced them to have sex with strangers for charges between Dh1,500 and Dh6,000 per client.
The anti-human trafficking police raided the villa in Al Khawaneej area at 3am, seized Dh104,000 in cash and a marriage contract and freed a number of girls, who were forced into prostitution. Police apprehended the 32-year-old Iraqi accused but her mother remained at large.
In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 64-year-old mother and her 32-year-old daughter of human trafficking for bringing girls aged between 15 and 17 to Dubai and coercing them to work in the sex trade.
The mother and her daughter were found guilty of forging the ages and names of the girls on travel papers to bring them here and force them into prostitution.
The daughter sexually exploited another female suspect [who has been deported] by making her work in prostitution and pocketing the profits.
The convicted daughter appealed her primary judgement before the Dubai Appeal Court and sought to acquit herself.
When she appeared in court, the 32-year-old appellant pleaded not guilty and denied all her accusations.
On Wednesday, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm dismissed the 32-year-old defendant’s appeal and upheld her 10 years’ jail sentence.
Presiding judge Bin Sarm said the accused will be deported following the completion of her punishment.
One of the victims testified that she and her sister were flown in to Dubai with forged passports.
“They made us stay in a villa and coerced us to work in prostitution. One day, they took us to a villa in Abu Dhabi where there was a party and too many men were present. A man made me dance for him while my younger sister was taken to a side room where she was forced to have sex with a stranger. When I saw her plight, she and I cried. The 32-year-old accused made us have sex with men for Dh1,500 to Dh6,000 that she took for herself,” she testified.
Another girl said the defendants made them dress in sexy outfits and promote their photos to clients via WhatsApp.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
