Customer helps foreigner forced into prostitution

Two Arab women are on trial after being accused of exploiting a Moroccan woman’s need for a job by falsely offering her a job, confining her and forcing her into prostitution after she arrived in the UAE, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

The victim AS, met a woman identified as ‘Asma’ in Morocco who told her about a job opportunity in a women’s beauty salon in Dubai. Asma then communicated with another woman called ‘Suaad’ and the latter asked the victim to sign on a bond of Moroccan dirhams 10 million against processing her UAE visa.  Suaad also supplied the victim with the contact number of her business manager, AF, in the UAE.

The victim, whose age was not mentioned in court records, arrived in Dubai on January 24 and took a taxi from the airport to Al Nahda after calling AF to find out her address.

“I arrived at the building and went up to the fifth floor. I was surprised to see seven Moroccan women in the flat. AF took my passport and then told me that my job is in prostitution, not in a salon. I tried to get out of the flat but was prevented.  The next day, AF took all the women including me to a hotel and offered the women to customers against Dh1,500,” the victim said.

The victim did not have to offer sex as no customer had chosen her. She stayed in the flat for about a week.

AF then took her to a hotel and handed over her passport to thereception as, as per the hotel’s rules, she cannot get in without submitting the passport.

“AF accompanied me to a room where there were four men and a Syrian woman. One of the men, who was a Saudi national, gave her Dh1,500 and I went with him. I cried and told the man that I am not a prostitute and narrated my whole story to him. The man accompanied me to the airport and bought me an air ticket using his Visa card. However, authorities did not allow me to leave the country as my contract had not been cancelled. I went to the airport police and reported this,” the victim told investigators.

On February 2, police arrested AF, 22, Moroccan, who was recognised by the victim when shown to her via identification parade.

AF denied having any relation with the victim who insisted that she was the one who had received her in the flat, confined her after seizing her passport and tried to force her into prostitution.

Police also arrested the Syrian woman RM, 28, who was in the hotel room where the Saudi man met the victim. Police raided RM’s flat and arrested her and three other women who were with her. Notebooks used for registering women’s names and amounts were also confiscated.

RM denied human trafficking and exploiting the victim. However, she admitted to running brothels against being paid Dh700 per woman per night.

The court will reconvene on November 6.

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