DUBAI // Six men who were found guilty of kidnapping a girl and selling her were sentenced to life in prison by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance this morning, while two of their accomplices got 15 years each.
According to court records, in January 2010 the Bangladeshi men MA, 38, a driver; JA, 24, an electrician; MR, 28, a worker; SM, 25, and MS, 26, painters; MJ, 26, and MAS, 25, workers; and NS, 24, a carpenter, broke into the victim's house in Al Qouz, which she shared with others. They pretended to be police officers and kidnapped her, telling her she was
wanted by police.
Records said they assaulted a driver who lived in the house and stole his mobile and wallet before they dragging the 20-year-old victim to a waiting car. The driver told prosecutors he followed them out wrote down the vehicle’s number, then called the Naif police station.
The victim told prosecutors she was taken to an apartment in Naif, where she was told she had been sold to a man for Dh10,000 to work in prostitution.
She said that when she refused, she was beaten with a belt, then raped by MR.
SM and NS were accused of running a brothel and sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by deportation.
The victim, also Bangladeshi, said she worked as a maid, but lived outside her sponsor’s house.
When the police tracked the defendants through their vehicle’s tag number and located their apartment, they broke in and found several other women who had been held against their will and forced into prostitution, records show.
salamir@thenational.ae
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US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
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The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
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Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action
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