Woman lured to Bahrain, forced into prostitution

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court has set 10 February to rule in the case of two defendants accused of conning a 25-year-old Asian woman into coming to Bahrain on the promise of work at a women’s salon, then forcing her into prostitution.

Prosecutors allege the pair brought the woman from her home country, housed her, and moved her between several flats and nightclubs, using threats, force and trickery to exploit her for profit.

They are also accused of unlawfully depriving her of her liberty, taking a share of what she earned through prostitution, and withholding her passport after it was handed to them for safekeeping, harming the rightful owner.

The charge sheet says the woman was pressured to repay an alleged debt in return for her freedom, and was made to engage in prostitution through intimidation and deceit.

Prosecutors also allege the defendants relied, in part, on the money she made from prostitution.

In court, defence lawyer Mohammed Al Marzooq asked for his client to be acquitted, arguing the account was not plausible, that the complainant’s statements did not match, and that the enquiries were not sound.

He asked the court to order the retrieval of CCTV footage tracking the woman’s movements in the five days before she filed her complaint, and sought to question the investigations officer.

Al Marzooq told the court the case file contained no confession by either defendant.

The complainant said she agreed to travel after being told she would work in a women’s salon, as she did in her home country, and that she would earn good money.

She said that once she arrived with the defendants, she was held in a hotel.