A woman in the United Arab Emirates has been jailed for prostitution after claiming she was raped by 12 men.
Duba Police detained the woman after she came to report being raped, suspecting her of being a sex worker. On Thursday, the Court of First Instance found her guilty and slapped down a three month jail sentence to be followed by deportation.
According told Khaleej Times, the 29-year-old woman hails from Pakistan and was in the UAE on a three-month visitors visa. She came to Al Rashidiya police station to report being raped in International City on April 21.
"She claimed 12 men raped her at a flat in International City. As we investigated her, she eventually confessed she made the story up to avoid being held legally accountable for working in prostitution," a police sergeant told local media in May.
The sergeant said the woman was angry that three clients had not paid her.
"She further confessed her Pakistani boss, who exploited her in prostitution, dropped her at a flat on the morning she filed the complaint. She had sex with one Pakistani man and then with his two friends. But after none of them paid her the money, she lodged a complaint of rape to implicate them," the sergeant said.
Defending herself in court, the woman argued that she was the victim in the situation.
"A person promised to help me find a good job with good salary … but he tricked me. He coerced me to work in the sex trade," she said, Gulf News reported.
The police also arrested the three male clients who refused to pay the woman. She first guided them to the house of one the men, who was detained. The man then led police to the home of the other two men.
The first man admitted, "his two friends also had sex with her and then led us to their flat in the same area," police said.
According to court records, the three men were also sentenced to two months in jail followed by deportation.
Just this week, The National reported that a gang of human traffickers had lured an Indonesian mother to the UAE in an attempt to force her into prostitution. The gang of four were handed down sentences totaling 20 years.
Also, in Abu Dhabi, a Russian woman was recently convicted of prostitution after going to the police accusing her flatmate of theft. She was sentenced to six months in jail to be followed by deportation.