18 February 2013

Forced into prostitution, Bangladeshi falls and breaks back in Dubai

The victim said she was then moved to another apartment, where there were four other men. One helped A?A lock her up and assault her, while the others were in charge of running the brothel.

On October 6 last year, after being held for about 45 days, the Bangladeshi woman escaped out of an open window in the third-floor flat.  She was climbing down the pipes but fell and lost consciousness. She woke up in Rashid Hospital with multiple spine fractures that have left her needing a walking frame.

A police lieutenant said that they were informed about the woman?s accident on October 6 last year and it was discovered that she had been forced, by several men, into the flesh trade. Two days later the police tracked down the main suspect in Naif, identified as 29-year-old Bangladeshi, A.A. jobless.  He admitted that he brought the Bangladeshi maid from Sharjah to a flat in Naif where he held her against her will and had forced sex with her. He denied having forced her into prostitution. He then sold her to an accomplice, also an unemployed Bangladeshi, 24, identified as S.R., for Dh1000. The accomplice then gave her to a third man to work as a prostitute for him after imprisoning her in another flat.

When the police showed the maid a picture of A.A., she confirmed that he was the man that brought her to Dubai and she claimed that he raped her and coerced her to have paid sex with men. The Bangladeshi maid said that she arrived into the country less than two years ago through the Dubai International Airport and was taken to Fujairah to work for an Emirati sponsor.

She worked for him for about one year and five months but she decided to run away due to alleged bad treatment.

A.A. fooled her into believing that he would find her a job at a supermarket, but instead he took her to the bus stop in Sharjah, and from there to his flat in Deira. There, he told her that she would work in prostitution and he assaulted her and raped her twice. He also locked her inside the flat and took her mobile phone. When she said that she did not want to work in prostitution, A.A. beat her with a belt. A.A. and S.R. were charged in the Court of First Instance with human trafficking by deceiving the victim with a job offer and forcing her into prostitution under coercion and intimidation. They are also accused of locking her up.

Three other men, all jobless and from Bangladesh, with ages ranging from 26 to 32, are charged with aiding and abetting A.A. and S.R. in the human trafficking charge.  Bangladeshis N?H, 26, S?A?A, 32,  and A?H, 28, were charged with aiding and assisting the other two.  A?A, S?A, N?H, and A?H were also charged with promoting sin by inviting customers to the brothel. They all denied the charges. The next hearing will be on March 6.