Teenage girl raped, forced into flesh trade

Dubai - She said her real age was 16 and that she entered Dubai last January on a visit visa.

A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and given to a woman in Pakistan then forced in prostitution, the Dubai Court of First Instance was told on Sunday.
The Pakistani woman accused, aged 35, denied in court charges including human trafficking, running a brothel and exploiting women in prostitution. She had an accomplice who is still at large.
The victim, a 16-year-old Pakistani girl, said that a man to whom her uncle owed some money, kidnapped and raped her then handed her over to the woman on trial, in Islamabad, Pakistan. "The woman held me up against my will in her place and forced me to work in prostitution under threats and beating.
She had an ID and passport issued for me and registered me as her daughter from her ex-husband. She brought me twice to Dubai to work in prostitution," she told the investigators.
Asked about the reason she did not complain against the Pakistani man, who kidnapped and raped her before giving her to the accused woman, the teenager said that she was not aware about the legal procedure. She also said she was afraid of that man.
She said her real age was 16 and that the last time she entered Dubai through the Dubai International Airport was on January 3 on a visit visa.
She claimed the accused told her she would work in a beauty salon.
But she later made her work as a prostitute in a flat in Al Rafaa. She said she had to as she knew nobody here.
She sought the help of a Pakistani man to complain with the Sharjah police about her ordeal.
She said she was scared and worried if she complained against the woman in Pakistan she might get killed as the accused would always say she had connections.
She said that other women came with them to Dubai to work willingly in prostitution.
A police officer said the victim came to Sharjah with a client then ran away from him and a police informant led them to her.
"We found her in the afternoon of January 22. She was crying and looking very desperate. She asked for our urgent help to return her to her country".
The officer heard from the victim that she had an agreement with the defendant to work in a beauty salon but she was surprised when the latter forced her to have sex with men for money, which that woman would always collect.
The woman would take the victim to nightclubs where she would offer her to men.

• Dubai