Bahrain: Court Issues Verdicts in Two Human Trafficking Cases
The High Criminal Court issued two verdicts in two human trafficking cases related to forced labour and sexual abuse, Advocate General and Chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Prosecution announced.
In the forced labour case, the court handed down five-year jail terms and BD5,000 fines to two suspects. Meanwhile, the third defendant was sentenced to three years in prison and fined BD3,000.
Regarding the sexual exploitation case, two female defendants were sentenced to five years in prison and fined BD 2,000 each. They will also be deported upon the completion of their jail terms.
Court documents of the first case showed that the suspects had forced a number of female victims to work, detained them in a building and transferred them from it only during the work period. They were also forced to work overtime, and were not paid their wages. Whenever they refused, they were warned to pay exorbitant costs, which the defendants claimed were the costs of visiting and residing in Bahrain.
Concerning the second case, the two defendants deluded a woman of their ability to provide her with a suitable job opportunity, and after her arrival in the Kingdom, she was exploited and forced to practise prostitution.
