4 men charged for running brothel in their Dubai apartment

Four jobless men were cleared on Monday of charges including human trafficking and tricking a woman to travel from their home country with a fake job promise in order to force her into prostitution.
The men, all Vietnamese with ages from 20 to 24, were also acquitted by the Court of First Instance of locking the woman up inside their flat under threats of beating her up to make her do as they pleased and sexually exploit her.
The court sentenced each of them, however, to one year in jail, to be followed by deportation, for running their flat as a prostitution den.
This case dates back to 21 and until 26 of June.
The victim said she was picked up by a fellow countryman (a suspect at large) at the Dubai International Airport. "He took me to a flat (located at International City as the investigation revealed). He offered me to men there and they told me I would work as a prostitute. But I refused and they kept shouting and threatening to beat me up. They did not let me leave," the 24-year-old Vietnamese woman said.
When she told the runaway suspect that she would inform their country's embassy he said he did not mind if she travelled back as long as she would buy the air ticket. "My parents sent me the ticket by e-mail," she said.
The same man dropped her off at the airport. "The passport control officers told me the embassy lodged a complaint after being contacted by my family," she told the prosecutor.
She told the police that all the men on trial tried to force her into prostitution. They locked her up and deprived her of her freedom.
"We received a letter from the Vietnam embassy here saying that the victim needed help as some men were forcing her into working in prostitution. We learned, few hours later, that one of the suspects brought the woman to the airport," a police sergeant said.
The police went there and only found the woman.
"We could locate their flat in the Spanish cluster and raided it. It turned out to be a prostitution den. The suspects were arrested along with some women," the officer added.
The victim identified the defendants among other suspects at Al Rashidiyah police station.
When interrogated, the men on trial admitted they were making between Dh3,000 and Dh4,000 a month for running the flat as a brothel and they had three women who were working willingly in prostitution.
The victim was placed at the Dubai Foundation for women and children.
The ruling may be appealed.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai