The National, UAE
May 17 2009
Trafficking victims tell of brutal life
Loveday Morris
Last Updated: May 16. 2009 10:58PM UAE / May 16. 2009 6:58PM GMT
Abu Dhabi // Ani was 20 and working on a market stall in a Bangladeshi
area of Yerevan, the Armenian capital, when she was given an offer she
couldn’t refuse ` the chance to work as a nanny in Dubai for a
tempting tax-free wage.
But Ani, like many women before her, had fallen victim to a sinister
human-trafficking ring run by three Armenian sisters. When she arrived
in Dubai, her passport was taken away and she was sent to live with
`Madame Anoush’ in her brothel in Deira, where she was forced into
prostitution.
Anoush Martirosyan, 40, the leader of the operation, was sentenced to
13 years in prison by a Yerevan court on April 20 after UAE and
Armenian authorities worked together to gather evidence against her.
The testimony at her trial paints a grim picture.
Ani was told she would have to work as a prostitute to pay back the
money spent bringing her to the country. Any protests were met with
beatings.
`There were days when she’d beat us and not feed us if we didn’t
work,’ Ani, now 26, recounted in court, according to the Armenian
online newspaper Hetq.
`She would line us all up in a row and grab her shoe … It didn’t
matter whether I worked well or poorly, she’d always hit me,’ she told
Hetq. `One day I complained, saying that after all the work I was
doing she wasn’t giving me any money. Upon hearing these words she
rushed me into a taxi, took me back to the house, and proceeded to
beat me with an iron bar.’
Ani said she escaped several times, but recalled how she was brought
back by `Ponytail Ali’, a henchmen the prostitution ring used to teach
a lesson to those who caused trouble.
Milena, 35, another victim who testified, said Martirosyan would
instil fear in her workers by calling on Ponytail Ali.
`There were about four to six girls with Anoush,’ Milena
said. `Whenever a new girl was brought to the stable, they’d call
Ponytail Ali to make a visit so that they’d recognise his face.
`If anyone was making problems they’d phone Ponytail Ali. He’d go find
the girl, take her out to the desert, have his way with her, beat her
and then take her to the boss.’
Milena said she finally managed to get her passport back, but still
was trapped.
`I had no money. It wasn’t only a question of a visa or plane
ticket. I also had to pay a fine because I had stayed in Dubai without
any visa for about one year,’ Hetq quoted her as telling the court.
She said that in desperation, she hatched a plan to be deported.
`I went to a hotel where drinking wasn’t allowed and started downing
some beers. I lined up the empty bottles on the window-shelf. Then I
rang up the police, who came and jailed me for two months. On May 4,
2008, I was deported.’
Sara Suhail, executive director of the Ewaa Shelter for human
trafficking victims in Abu Dhabi, said women brought here against
their will should never feel helpless.
`Maybe sometimes victims aren’t aware of the efforts the country is
dealing with this problem and don’t know that there are now procedures
and laws in place,’ Ms Suhail said.
She said victims also might be afraid of being charged with
prostitution if they go to the police for help. But, she said, a
special police task force had been set up specifically to recognise
human trafficking crimes and help the victims.
Martirosyan, who had been convicted in 2004 in Armenia for organising
prostitution, admitted housing the girls, but denied human
trafficking. She said they were willing to move to Dubai and work as
prostitutes.
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