DUBAI // Two alleged human-trafficking victims this morning retracted their testimony in criminal court, saying they had not been forced to prostitute themselves in the emirate.
The two, a 16-year-old from Bangaldesh and a 15-year-old from Pakistan appeared today before the Criminal Court of First Instance Judge Maher Al Mahdi to testify against the Indian defendant NB, 56, and his 37-year-old female compatriot and alleged accomplice, YT.
Prosecutors charged them with deceiving the two teenagers along with a 21-year-old woman and a 20-year-old woman, both from India, with promises of jobs in Dubai and forcing them into prostitution.
NB and YT denied the human-trafficking charges.
In her testimony to prosecutors, the Pakistani girl said she was forced by her mother-in-law to travel to Dubai and provide for her family, as her father was old and disabled. Records show that she was taken to NB and YT's home and physically forced to work in prostitution.
However, in court today, she said she knew she was coming to work as a prostitute. She told the court she was only pressured by her mother-in-law in Pakistan.
The Bangladeshi girl told the court today that she had arrived to work in the country one year ago, after her father's death. She said she was initially taken to a Bangladeshi man's house to work as a prostitute, where she was beaten when she refused.
She said she was then taken to NB and YT's home, where she decided to work on her own free will.
She also told the court that she had many opportunities to contact police, but did not want to.
The court will reconvene on January 4.
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