A woman found guilty of running a prostitution ring has appealed her sex trafficking conviction, arguing that she was, in fact, a victim of trafficking herself.
In February, a Syrian man and a Moroccan woman were sentenced to five years in prison and fined BD2,000 for coercing two Tunisian women into prostitution.
The victims were recruited through a Facebook advert, which offered a job as a waitress in Bahrain.
The two Arab convicts, who were also ordered to pay for the victims’ repatriation, took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to appeal the ruling.
The 36‑year‑old Moroccan appellant, along with her lawyer, claimed that she too had been deceived by the Syrian pimp, who allegedly lured her to Bahrain and forced her into prostitution.
“I entered Bahrain less than six days before I was arrested for a crime I didn’t commit,” the Moroccan testified. “I was so shaken that I didn’t comprehend what was happening and have no recollection of the investigation.”
Attorney Mohamed Fateel argued that his client had arrived in Bahrain less than two days before the victims, insisting it was implausible that she could have trafficked them while she herself had newly arrived in the country.
“The suspect arrived in Bahrain on November 27 from Oman, and the victims arrived in the early hours of November 29,” Mr Fateel said.
“This means that the difference between the time she arrived and they arrived is merely a little longer than 24 hours.
“The Syrian appellant was the one who received the victims and took them to the hotel in Hoora, but in the hotel itself, the person who collects the money is a Moroccan woman named Fayruz.
“My client didn’t take part in organising the vice trade activities because she had only recently arrived in Bahrain. The girls claimed that she taught them how to solicit customers, but that is difficult to believe, since she had just come to the country.”
Meanwhile, the appellant herself told judges in a handwritten letter that she is the mother of two orphans and was only trying to provide for them and her terminally ill father.
“I came to this generous country seeking work and hoping to improve my financial situation. I had no intention of earning money through haram (forbidden or sinful actions),” the 26-year-old said.
She added that her father suffers from kidney failure and intestinal cancer, and that her family relies on both her monthly income and her father’s salary. However, rising expenses ultimately pushed her to seek work abroad.
The GDN earlier reported that both appellants will be deported after completing their sentences.
The two Arabs were convicted of compelling the victims to enter the vice trade through force threats and deception, holding the fellow Arabs captive, and relying on the earnings that the women made as their source of income.
They were also found guilty of recruiting, transporting, welcoming and housing the victims with the intention of exploiting them to practise prostitution.
“I saw a job listing on Facebook for a restaurant server in Bahrain, and messaged the person behind the ad,” the 23-year-old Tunisian victim earlier testified.
“We began to arrange for my immigration to Bahrain. I told my friend (27-year-old Tunisian victim) about the opportunity, and she decided to join me, and procedures were taken to move us both here.
“When we arrived in Bahrain, the first defendant and an Asian driver received us. We were taken to a flat, where we were deprived of our freedom and forced to have sex with customers they bring to us.
“The second defendant, the Moroccan woman, said I had to work to pay her back for the travel visa and the plane tickets.
“The defendants would take the money the customers paid, and give us some of it.”
Police officers were tipped off about the racket and launched an investigation, which resulted in the arrest and trial of the two pimps, aged 51 and 36.
The 51-year-old man admitted to applying for travel visas for the victims, and that he encourages women to commit sex work in two hotels under his watch, one of which is located in Hoora.
He stated that he is aided by the 36-year-old Moroccan woman, who collects the money on his behalf.
She denied working with her co-defendant as a pimp, claiming to be a regular one of his ‘girls’, but stated that she had to take the money from the victims one day because the woman who usually collects the cash was not there.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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