Anuj Tiwari Last updated on: 1/6/2016, Permalink

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Nine accused of beating and stripping woman in Dubai blackmail plot

A salon worker was kidnapped, stripped and forced into making a humiliating video as part of a plot to blackmail her wealthy brother, a court has heard. Nine suspects have gone on trial accused of a range of crimes relating to her ordeal. All deny the charges.

Dubai Court of First Instance heard the 29-year-old was grabbed as she walked in the Al Nahda area on September 19, 2015. A car stopped alongside her and an Egyptian man and two Moroccan women forced her inside before driving to Al Qusais. 

She testified: “They gagged me with tape and then took me to a flat and beat me up. They threatened to kill me and took my passport and mobile phone.” She continued: “They told me that they wanted money from my brother, who has businesses in Italy. “Then they took off my clothes and recorded me naked.” She said she was made to say a series of sexually provocative comments captured on a mobile phone and the video was sent to her brother with the demand for 7 million Moroccan dirhams (Dhs2.5 million).

The woman and her brother were told the footage would be shared on the internet unless the money was paid. Several people also assaulted the victim, including hitting her over the head with a television remote control while she was tied to a chair naked and gagged. The victim said she knew two of the Moroccan women from back home and that she arrived in Dubai in 2014 to work as a pedicurist and manicurist.

After five hours of being tied to the chair, the brother got back to her captors and agreed to pay the cash within two days. The defendants then allowed the woman to sleep inside the room. However, the brother contacted a friend in Dubai who raised the alarm with police. Prosecutors said officers raided the flat, rescued the woman and arrested all of the suspects, including an Ethiopian maid.

All the defendants denied charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse, blackmail, threatening, physical assault, using insulting language and criminal abetting. One defendant, a 26-year-old Moroccan woman, even claimed the victim had asked to be filmed naked using sexual language. The trial continues later this month.

Source: MSN UAE