I was tricked, claims teen charged over prostitution

dubai — A Jordanian teenager has said that she was tricked by a relative and denied being involved in prostitution.

The presiding judge at the Sharjah Misdemeanor Court charged the 15-year-old E,M with prostitution, but she pleaded not guilty and said she only visited the place because her uncle’s ex–wife had asked her to visit the flat located in Buteina, Sharjah.

She said she was stunned when the police raided the flat. The judge confronted her by saying that she was caught while receiving Dh200 from undercover police.

“Yes I received the money from the undercover police, but I did nothing,” she said. “I did not know that the money is for having sex with him. I cried so much when I was arrested and I told them that I am innocent.”

When the judge asked her about her parents, she said her mother is Iraqi and father, Jordanian, and after divorcing her mother he had returned to Jordan. Her mother also got married and now lives in Sweden, she said.

The girl had been living with her grandmother who had left for their home country for treatment and hence she was living with her aunt who works at a ladies salon and her uncle who is an engineer. She said her uncle takes care of her and pays her school fees and other expenses.

The girl added that on that day she had gone to visit her uncle’s ex-wife at her apartment and that it was the first time she was going there. She said she was a student and that she was in jail for two months.

amira@khaleejtimes.com