Kidnapped woman rescued after throwing note from brothel window

DUBAI // A woman forced into prostitution was rescued by police just 20 minutes after she threw a note pleading for help out of a window of the brothel in which she was held.
The woman arrived in Dubai from Pakistan on April 15 after being promised a Dh3,000 monthly salary as a maid.
But she was kidnapped by H?L, 35, from China, and forced to work as a prostitute, prosecutors told the Criminal Court.
The Chinese woman assaulted her and threatened to sell her to a human trafficking gang that would torture her if she did not do as the Chinese woman wished.
In her testimony, the woman said a compatriot who worked in prostitution willingly, identified as N, had helped to dupe her into coming to the UAE.
"On the day I arrived I was handed Dh2,500 and told it was an upfront payment," recalled the woman.
She said her passport was taken from her and she was ordered to ditch her traditional Pakistani clothing. She appealed to her captors to send her back to Pakistan but they did not listen.
"I gave in to their demands when H?L assaulted and threatened me," she said. "I often told customers that I was forced into doing this but they would tell H?L and she would assault me."
The woman said she asked N for help when N was leaving for a visit to her home country.
"N then told me the police's number and the next day I wrote on a piece of paper the flat and building numbers, followed by 'Help me, call police'," said the woman.
She looked out of the window of the flat and saw the building's security guard.
The Indian guard M?E, 59, said he saw the woman clapping her hands to get his attention.
"She then waved the piece of paper at me. After I picked it up and read it, I called the police," the guard said.
Officers raided the flat less than 20 minutes later.
H?L denied charges of human trafficking, locking up a woman, and running a brothel.
M?M, 33, a Pakistani man, denied charges of aiding and abetting in human trafficking and another charge of twice raping the woman.
The next hearing was scheduled for September 22.
salamir@thenational.ae