Two on trial over kidnap of labour case complainant
Prosecution alleges victim was threatened with death
Dubai: Two men appeared in the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday for allegedly kidnapping a man and detaining him for three days.
The men were allegedly trying to force the victim to drop a labour complaint against his sponsor.
One of the two Bangladeshi men, identified as M.A, 32, was charged with detaining the victim to force him to drop the complaint, and as revenge because he believed the victim had reported his other illegal activities to the police.
The same defendant was also charged with entering the country without a valid passport or visa despite being deported earlier. The other defendant, 30-year-old S.J., was charged with failing to report the alleged kidnap to the police despite his knowledge of it.
The victim testified that the day before the incident, his sponsor called him and told him to bring his labour card to collect his passport. The next day, S.J. called and told him to meet him at a grocery belonging to his sponsor. When the 28-year-old Bangladeshi victim arrived at the grocery, he was told his passport was not there. Four men who were waiting there assaulted him, the court heard.
The victim said he was then taken to an old villa in Sharjah where the four men continued to beat and torture him. He was also told to call his father and tell him he was visiting a relative in Abu Dhabi.
The victim said that on the second day, his sponsor called and asked him if he was happy in this situation, and reminded him that he should have dropped the complaint against him. The victim said he was held for three days, during which he heard his captors say he was a police informant and he had reported their illegal activities. One of them threatened to cut him to pieces, he said.
After three days when the victim continued to beg and plead for his release, he was told that they would let him go. They also threatened to kill him if he reported the incident to police. They dropped him off near International City from where he took a cab home and called his father, who took him to Naif Police Station. Two friends of the victim as well as the taxi driver, who picked him up, confirmed his story to the prosecutor, while M.A. denied the kidnap charges.
