Pervs and Paedos on the Indian Sub-Continent and Gulf States

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Gang arrested for raping girl, circulating video on social media in UAE

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A group of youngsters were arrested after they gang-raped a girl and circulated video

Published:  December 10, 2020 13:06

WAM

  

ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi Police is investigating a case involving a group of young men accused of raping a girl and uploading videos of the attack on several social media platforms.

In a statement on Thursday, UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said that Abu Dhabi Police arrested the men on Wednesday and are currently conducting "extensive investigations under the direct supervision of the Public Prosecutor."

UAE Attorney-General

Hamad Saif Al Shamsi

An investigation into the incident had been ordered by the UAE Attorney-General on Wednesday following an urgent report that was submitted by the Public Prosecution's federal investigation office. Police were able to make the arrests on the same day.

The Attorney-General added that the incident contained "a degree of depravity that is not acceptable in UAE society", reassuring the public that authorities will stand decisively against those who violate the morals and social values of Emirati society and disturb public safety.

Gang of women attack, rob footballer after making advances

on Dubai street

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One of the gang members gets two years in jail, while others are still at large

Published:  December 11, 2020 09:54

Ali Al Shouk, Senior Reporter

  

Dubai Court, Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Dubai: A woman who attacked and robbed a Nigerian footballer on a Dubai street along with other women was sentenced to two years in jail, to be followed by deportation.

Dubai Court of First Instance was told that the woman was part of a gang of women who attacked the victim. The other women are still at large.

The 26-year-old Nigerian victim was walking to his parked car at Naif area at 7pm one evening in February when a woman from Uganda stopped him and offered a massage session and a sexual affair. According to records, the victim rejected her offer.

“I told her that I don’t want to have a massage. She was angry and pushed me. I was surprised when a group of seven to 10 women then attacked me. One snatched my gold chain and another bit me,” said the victim in official records.

The women also stole Dh3,715 in cash from his wallet, besides an expensive watch.

“I was afraid and escaped the place first, but returned with a friend and reported the incident to the Naif Police Station, I then went to Dubai Hospital to get a medical report,” the Nigerian victim added.

He claimed the road was busy with people and that he was injured on the left arm due to the bite.

Dubai Public Prosecution has charged the 33-year-old woman who was arrested with robbery and practising prostitution.

The court has ordered the defendant to pay a Dh6,215 fine.

The verdict will be subject to appeal within 15 days.

Dubai worker sexually abuses teenager he met on social media

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27 year old jailed was having an illegal affair with the girl

Published:  December 18, 2020 09:53

Ali Al Shouk, Senior Reporter, Gulf News

Dubai: A Dubai worker was sentenced to three years in jail to be followed by deportation for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard that the girl’s 62-year-old father, who is originally from the Philippines, testified that in December of last year, he noticed his daughter return late and sit in front of her laptop for several hours. “I confronted her with my doubts and she told me that she was in love with a man, and that she had an affair with him,” the father said.

The father reported the incident to Bur Dubai Police station.

Dubai Police arrested a 27-year-old Pakistani worker who admitted to having an affair with the girl. He claimed that he knew the girl through Instagram and met her on the rooftop of her building where he watched a pornographic video clip with her.

Dubai Public Prosecution said the defendant didn’t care about the girl’s age or family conditions. The defendant was charged with having an illicit affair with the girl.

An illicit affair seems to assume that a 13-year-old is capable of consenting to a sexual affair. There is little doubt that the child was groomed, and the man should be charged with rape of a child.

The verdict will be subject for appeal within 15 days.

Dubai-based gang lured victims into brothel for robbery

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Victims were threatened with publishing their pictures with prostitutes on social media

Published:  December 20, 2020 14:47

Ali Al Shouk, Senior Reporter, Gulf News

Dubai: The leader of a Dubai-based gang, who used to lure victims into a brothel to steal their money, was arrested after four years of multiple complaints.

According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, a Bangladeshi gang used a house in the Naif area of Dubai as a brothel to lure visitors, steal their money, before threatening them with publishing their pictures with prostitutes if they reported the incident to police.

Most of the victims failed to report the incidents as they are wary of being exposed during their visit to a brothel and left the country after finishing their trip.

In October 2020, three Indian victims were in the area exchanging currency when they were lured to the place by a gang member. “We were searching for a meat shop when someone guided us to an old house, claiming that the place sold meat for a low price. As we entered the house, a group of ten Bangladeshi men attacked us and stole our money,” said the 45-year-old Indian visitor.

The gang stole around Dh40,000 from the three victims before forcing them to enter the rooms to have sex with prostitutes. “I was crying and told the girl that I don’t want to have an illegal affair. She told me that she would tell the gang that I had sex with her.”

The gang took pictures of the three men with the prostitutes and threatened to publish those pictures on Facebook. However, the three victims called 999 and reported the incident to Naif Police Station.

A policeman testified that the 54-year-old Bangladeshi ring leader was arrested four days after the incident. The other gang members are still at large. The defendant was also charged with robbery.

The next hearing scheduled for January 2021.

Out of Islam: Stories of Women Attempting to Escape Their Uber-Misogynistic Muslim Families

Escape bids by rebel princesses

throw spotlight on UAE rights

Stuart WILLIAMS and Lucie PEYTERMANN

AFP

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktum (C) and his wife Princess Haya (R) are locked in a legal battle in the UK over the welfare of their children (AFP Photo/Karim SAHIB)

Paris (AFP) - Princess Haya, who is battling her husband Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum in a UK court, is the third princess who has sought to escape the Gulf emirate in recent years.

Activists say the attempts by Haya and two of Sheikh Mohammed's daughters to escape the United Arab Emirates (UAE) throw a harsh spotlight on the country's rights record, even as it tries to present a glitzy and modern image to the West.

In 2000, Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum tried to escape the family's entourage during a holiday in England, but was reportedly picked up two months later and forcibly returned to Dubai.

And in 2018, another daughter, Sheikha Latifa, fled Dubai before being allegedly captured at sea off India. Supporters released a harrowing video, purportedly by her, in which she describes her living conditions.

Princess Haya, 45, the half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah and an equestrian competitor in the Olympics for her native Jordan, surfaced this year in Britain where she has applied for a forced marriage protection order.

- 'Endemic failings' -

The cases have tarnished efforts by Sheikh Mohammed, who is also prime minister of the UAE and a familiar figure on the global horse racing circuit as founder of the Godolphin stables, to present Dubai as a contemporary model in the Middle East.

The city has expanded exponentially in recent years as its rulers turned it into a global investment and tourism hub no longer dependent on energy revenues.

In November 2018, Dubai hosted a world tolerance summit that was denounced by rights groups as brazen hypocrisy given its record on human rights.

A new edition of the event, scheduled for November, will take place under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed with the aim to "strengthen the UAE's stance to be a model for tolerance and positive coexistence".

Rights groups accuse the UAE of holding opponents without legal basis, including award-winning rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 on accusations of spreading false information.

Prominent academic Nasser Bin Ghaith was also handed a 10-year jail term in 2017 over a series of tweets criticising the UAE authorities.

Human Rights Watch said in July that the UAE was continuing to hold at least five Emirati prisoners, including an activist and members of a registered Islamist political movement, even after they completed their sentences.

Contacted by AFP, the UK-based group Detained in Dubai, which says it assists people or companies caught up in the UAE's legal system, said: "The cases of Princess Latifa and Princess Haya highlight many of the endemic failings, if not legalised abuses, that plague the UAE legal system."

The failings of the UAE's legal system were "particularly sharp in relation to the rights of women," it added.

Emirati media used to extensively cover the movements of Haya, who in 2016 said of her husband that "every single day I thank God that I am lucky enough to be close to him." But the last story about Haya from the official WAM news agency dates back to February.

Latifa's story

Latifa (L) was not seen in public until images emerged of her in December 2018 with former Irish president

Mary Robinson (R) in Dubai (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Latifa's disappearance was a source of international intrigue, with supporters claiming she was captured on a yacht in March 2018 during an escape bid and forcibly returned to Dubai.

She was not seen in public until images emerged of her in Dubai meeting the former UN human rights chief and former Irish president Mary Robinson.

Robinson confirmed Latifa had planned her escape and recorded a video, and described her as "clearly troubled."

After her disappearance, supporters released a video which they said Latifa recorded before her escape bid, where she launched a scathing attack on her father, saying he only cared about his reputation.

"If you are watching this video it is not such a good thing. Either I am dead or in a really bad situation," says the woman in the video, who claimed to be Latifa.

Shamsa's story is very brief

Echoing British press reports from the time, the woman said "my sister Shamsa" had tried to escape in England in 2000 but was then abducted by "bunch of guys" after two months on the run and returned to Dubai via France.

Now "she has no freedom, she has a psychiatrist with her and she is surrounded by nurses."

The circumstances surrounding Shamsa's disappearance are even more mysterious, and she has not been seen in public for almost two decades.

'He will never stop looking for us':

Saudi Sisters who Fled Allegedly Abusive Father

Seek Asylum in Canada

Dua and Dalal al-Showaiki say their father tried to

force them to marry older men

CBC Radio 

Saudi sisters Dua, left, and Dalal al-Showaiki have been hiding in Istanbul for six weeks from their father, who they claim abused them for having dreams of independence and tried to force them to marry older, religious men. (Submitted by Toby Cadman)

Two Saudi sisters who have been hiding in Istanbul for six weeks after fleeing years of alleged abuse by their father are hoping to be granted asylum in Canada.

Dua, 22, and Dalal al-Showaiki, 20, describe their father as controlling and abusive and say he tried to force them to abandon their dreams of independence in order to marry older, religious men.

After years of contemplating their escape, the sisters said they made the drastic decision to flee on June 10 while on a family vacation in Turkey's largest city.

"We didn't have, like, anyone to help us," Dua told The Current, speaking from their 11th safe house in Istanbul. "We didn't have any choice. Just run away."

It's so hard for me to live in Saudi Arabia.

I don't have any future there.

- Dua al-Showaiki

Dalal describes her family life as a "jail" in which she is unable to make her own decisions. "If sometimes my father told us, like, 'This morning, you can't go to school at your college.' I can't complain to anyone."

The situation is worse for Dua, who realized as a teen that she was gay. Homosexuality is considered a crime in Saudi Arabia and is punishable by death or flogging.

"It's so hard for me to live in Saudi Arabia," she said. "I don't have any future there."

The getaway

During the family vacation, Dua and Dalal say their father seized their passports and money before locking them in a hotel room. When he opened the door to use the bathroom, the sisters say they were ready — wearing shoes and with cellphones in hand — to make a dash for the exit.

"I was running, I don't know where I must go. But I was hiding in the streets," Dua recalled.

The recent high-profile getaways of other Arab women — Saudi Arabia's Rahaf Mohammed, Dubai princess Sheikha Latifa, and Saudi sisters Maha and Wafa al-Subaie — almost thwarted their plan. They said their family was on high alert, attuned to the possibility.

After making their escape, the sisters then reached out to an online network of Saudi women for help.

"I told them that I am on the street. I don't have any place to go … and they helped me," Dua said. "They know people in Turkey and they [gave] me their contact."

Dua and Dalal have been hiding in Istanbul for 50 days. After making their escape, they relied on an online network of Saudi women for help finding a safe house. (DuaDalal/Twitter)

The sisters have been holed up in Istanbul ever since, taking to social media to publicize their plight and campaign for asylum in Canada.

Dua and Dalal spend most of their time indoors and move frequently for fear their father will find them and forcibly bring them back to their home country. Turkey is one of a handful of countries that Saudis can travel to without a prior visa.

"He will never stop looking for us, so he can clear the shame," said Dalal.

She believes if they were to return to their home in the port city of Jeddah, about 90 kilometres east of Mecca, her father would kill them or have them thrown in jail, where they would be subject to torture.

The sisters say their getaway and public campaign has also led them to receive a steady stream of online threats.

Life free of oppression

Asked why they have chosen Canada as their preferred destination, Dalal says it's because it's a safe place. "They support gay people, they support ex-Muslims and everyone," she said

🇸🇦 Dua & Dalal 🇸🇦

@DuaDalal

 I'm Dua and my sister Dalal have fled from Saudi Arabia to Turkey. My father wanted to marry us to old men and religious militants. We were beaten and harassed. We were threatened with imprisonment in the Women's Welfare Center,#SaveDuaandDalal

 #SaudiSistersRescue @hrw_ar

Toby Cadman, a British lawyer who has been advising the sisters, says he has credible evidence that family members may try to compel Turkish authorities to illegally return Dua and Dalal to Saudi Arabia. 

"The environment in Turkey is really not safe," he said, referencing a large number of Saudi nationals who visit the country each year.

The sisters are currently waiting for their application to be processed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is responsible for determining which refugee cases to refer to Canada.

In an email to The Current, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the office is unable to comment on the sisters' case due to privacy regulations.

"Individuals cannot apply directly for resettlement to Canada, nor can they make claims at an Embassy of Canada," Mathieu Genest wrote. "The UNHCR determines which cases to refer to Canada and will request expedited processing when appropriate."

Asylum seekers whose claims are determined to be eligible will get a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, he said, which will select "foreign nationals for resettlement who have no reasonable prospect of finding another durable solution."

Toby Cadman, centre, is a British lawyer who has been advising the sisters on their asylum claim. He says he hopes they will have a chance at a normal life.  (Submitted by Toby Cadman)

Cadman is optimistic their case will warrant an urgent decision by UNHCR and says he hopes the sisters will have a chance at "a life like you and I would consider to be normal."

"We've already heard about the system of abuse, which we know exists in Saudia Arabia," he told The Current.

"You also have two individuals that have been subjected to physical and mental abuse over a number of years. They've also been subjected to sexual abuse by family members in an environment where no care is given to protect them."

The Saudi embassy in Ottawa did not respond to The Current's request for comment.

Plight of women's rights

Saudi Arabia has a long history of brutally punishing those who demand equality, defend women's rights and advocate for social reform.

It consistently ranks among the world's worst countries for women's rights and equality. The World Economic Forum positioned it 141 out of 149 in its 2018 report on gender equality.

The country's highly restrictive guardianship laws require women to be granted permission from a male relative to work, travel abroad, marry and receive certain kinds of medical treatment.

This past spring, a sweep of arrests targeting individuals supportive of women's rights and those with ties to jailed activists saw 12 people detained. Women who have stood trial for charges related to their activism have told court they were abused during interrogations.

Asked if they would resettle in another country if it offered them asylum before Canada, the sisters replied they'd be willing to go nearly anywhere.

"If anyone in any country agreed to take us, of course, we're going to go," Dua said.

Maha and Wafa al-Subaie

Saudi sisters Wafa and Maha granted asylum

By Anne-Marie Bissada

Sisters Maha and Wafa al-Subaie post a photo of themselves leaving Georgia

The two Saudi sisters who made international headlines in April seeking help to leave Georgia before their family or officials forced them back to Saudi Arabia, have finally been offered asylum in an undisclosed location.

It was a story that made headlines as sisters Maha and Wafa fled their abusive family and arrived in Georgia 17 April where they started to ask for help in relocation to a third country.

“We decided to leave Saudi Arabia because life there had become unbearable from the torture. We were threatened and abused daily by our family, father and mother and brothers,” Maha had said in an interview with RFI.

In direct contact with RFI and other news outlets, the sisters explained that they had been planning to leave since 2014 after their lives had become unbearable from the constant repression at the hands of their family and the government.

Under the Saudi male guardianship system, a woman, regardless of her age, is under constant surveillance by an official male guardian.

Easy access to Georgia

Georgia is one of the few countries that Saudi citizens can travel to without a visa, making it an easier destination for the girls to get to.

But ultimately, the longer they waited there, the more precarious their situation became as twitter trolls, reportedly from their family, began harassing them and tweeting threats to the sisters.

Your face does not indicate torture, you are lies, you do not deserve asylum there are women who deserve it more than you

  amss (@amss70535077) April 22, 2019

Under Islamic law it is not permissible to scar or bruise a Muslim woman's face. Beatings must occur elsewhere on the body.

The UNHCR did work with the sisters in helping them find a safe place in Georgia.

Success story

In the end, a tweet and a photo telling their supporters that they had finally been accepted in a third country.

Rima. 🦋

@rima246

 "As we settle in our new home and life we will continue to support Saudi women. Your sweet and thoughtful messages helped us through some very hard times." 

Beautiful message from @GeorgiaSisters2 to the thousands who signed their petition: https://www.change.org/p/unhcr-help-resettle-saudi-sisters-maha-and-wafa-al-subaie-to-a-third-safe-country/u/24531500 …

For the time being as they settle into their new lives, the sisters have asked for privacy from the media.

The location of their new home is also not known, to ensure their safety.

Maha and Wafa al-Subaie have left Georgia

Twitter / @GeorgiaSisters2

While the sisters and other girls fleeing the Saudi Kingdom have found a happy ending, others have not been lucky as in the case of Dina Ali Lasloom.

She made it as far as the Philippines in 2017, but was then forced back to the kingdom. Her current whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

Detainees Held Without Charges Decry Emiratis’ Sexual Abuses in Yemen

CAUTION: Graphic, disturbing descriptions follow

No ages are given in this piece but we can probably assume that some men in their late teens and early 20s are included.

CAIRO (AP) — The 15 officers who arrived at the prison in southern Yemen hid their faces behind headdresses, but their accents were clearly foreign — from the United Arab Emirates. They lined up the detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down. The officers then searched the anal cavity of each prisoner, claiming that they were looking for contraband cellphones.

The men screamed and wept. Those who resisted were threatened by barking dogs and beaten until they bled.

Hundreds of detainees suffered similar sexual abuse during the event on March 10 at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, according to seven witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press. Descriptions of the mass abuse offer a window into a world of rampant sexual torture and impunity in UAE-controlled prisons in Yemen.

A drawing of prisoners being transported in a pickup truck to an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: “This is how they transport the prisoners from and to the coalition. Blindfolded and handcuffed in the back of a Land Cruiser pickup in large numbers as if they are animals and under gunpoint.”

The UAE is a key U.S. ally whose secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates.

Yemen’s war began in 2015, after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over much of the country’s north. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading a coalition to fight the rebels, but UAE forces have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. The U.S. is backing the coalition with billions of dollars in arms, and partners with the Emiratis in anti-terrorism campaigns.

Emiratis have swept up hundreds of Yemeni men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials.

The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of torture reported by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen.

“We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story.”

U.S. officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. But Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on intelligence sharing with partners.

A drawing of a prisoner being abused at a prison in Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates. Arabic from right to left reads: “Anti-terrorism,” “Innocent citizen,” and “Real terrorism behind their back, they don’t look at.”

UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment.

A drawing of a prisoner being tortured at an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: “with water after beating.”

Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers have used various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They raped detainees while other guards filmed the assaults. They electrocuted prisoners’ genitals or hung rocks from their testicles. They sexually violated others with wooden and steel poles.

“They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then the sodomizing starts,” said one father of four.

From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled letters and drawings to the AP about the sexual abuse. The drawings were made on plastic plates with blue ink pen.

The artist told the AP that he was detained last year and has been in three different prisons. “They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain,” he said. “The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can’t find it.”

He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of further abuse.

The drawings show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being electrocuted, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape.

“Naked after beating,” one Arabic caption says. Another drawing shows a man’s rectum being forced open.

“This is how they search the prisoners,” the caption reads.

Of the five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

One is at the Buriqa base — the headquarters for the Emirati forces. A second is at the house of Shallal Shaye, the Aden security chief closely allied with the UAE, and a third is at a nightclub-turned-prison called Wadah. The fourth is at Beir Ahmed, where the March atrocities occurred.

U.S. personnel have been seen at the Buriqa base, along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. The detainees could not say whether the Americans, some of whom wear military uniforms, are members of the U.S. government or mercenaries.

But it is the UAE that has taken the lead in southern Yemen.

The humiliation of the entire prison population in March may have been triggered by a series of hunger strikes among prisoners, who are held for months or years. At least 70 detainees were ordered released earlier this year by state prosecutors but most remain in detention. The Yemeni government has said that it has no control over the UAE-run prisons and Hadi has ordered an investigation into reports of torture.

The incident in March began when soldiers opened cells at 8 a.m., ordered all detainees out to the prison yard, then lined them up and forced them to stand under the sun until noon. When the Emirati force arrived, the detainees were blind-folded, handcuffed and led in groups or individually into a room. The Emiratis told the victims to undress and lie down — and then spread their legs open, touched their genitals and probed their rectums.

“You are killing my dignity,” one prisoner was heard crying. A second screamed to the Emiratis, “Did you come to liberate us or strip our clothes off?”

The Emiratis shouted back: “This is our job!”

One prisoner said that when the Emiratis forced them to stand naked, “All I could think of was Abu Ghraib” — referring to the prison outside Baghdad where U.S. soldiers committed abuses against detainees during the Iraq war.

“They were searching for mobile phones inside our bodies,” another witness told the AP. “Do you believe this! How could anyone hide a phone in there?”

In the same city, at the UAE-run prison inside the Buriqa military base, two prisoners told the AP they think American personnel in uniform must be aware of the torture - either because they have heard screams or seen marks of torture. Prisoners said that they have no knowledge of Americans being directly involved in the abuse.

“Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work,” said one senior security official at the Riyan Prison in the city of Mukalla. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Two other security officials, who were once close to the Emiratis, said that mercenaries including Americans are present at all the Emirati military camps and sites, including the prisons. Their mission is mainly to guard.

The father of four said that sometimes the screaming from the beatings is so intense that he can feel his cell shake.

“It’s beyond imagination,” he said.

A former security chief who himself was involved in torturing detainees to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying.

“In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because of security concerns.

Based on the AP investigation last year, the House of Representatives voted on May 24 to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to determine whether U.S. military or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations of detainees in Yemen.

The House adopted the measure as part of the 2019 defense authorization bill, which is still under consideration by the Senate. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. The Defense Department would have to submit a report within 120 days to Congress.

Khanna called the AP’s report Wednesday “a shocking revelation of the ongoing human rights abuses happening in Yemen.”

“Now, with greater urgency than ever before, we need the Pentagon to launch an investigation and determine whether our nation has been involved in torturing prisoners in Yemen,” he said.

The war has left over 10,000 people dead, displaced millions, and pushed the already poor country to the edge of famine.

After Houthi rebels forced out the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, he fled to Riyadh, where the Saudi government kept him for more than a year. He was only allowed to return to Yemen Thursday at the beginning of an offensive led by the UAE to take control of the major port city of Hodeida, the key entry point for humanitarian aid.

The UAE’s control over southern Yemen, and the prisons, has left many Yemenis worried that innocent civilians are being pushed into the arms of the very extremists that Emirati forces claim they are fighting.

“In the prisons, they are committing the most brutal crimes,” said a Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh. “Joining ISIS and al-Qaida became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomization. From here, the prisons, they are manufacturing ISIS.”

He spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation from the Emiratis.

One middle-aged man said he has been in prison since 2016, and has been moved across the network of secret prisons multiple times. He said he was interrogated 21 times, during which he was tortured with electricity, beatings, and attack dogs while he was blindfolded and chained.

“They beat me up with electric wires, with steel, an electric shock, or they take off the clothes except for the underwear and stomp on my body and face with their boots. The soldiers would carry you up in the air and dump you on the ground.”

The AP previously confirmed 18 detention sites, but he named 21, including 13 prisons and 8 military camps.

Another prisoner gave the AP what he said were the real names of five Emirati torturers. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment about the men.

One of the most brutal torturers is Yemeni, a former prisoner called Awad al-Wahsh, who was detained and tortured before agreeing to work with the Emiratis, four witnesses told the AP. His supervisor, Yosran al-Maqtari, could not be reached for comment. Al-Maqtari is Aden’s chief of anti-terrorism.

Other torturers named by detainees are Emirati officers known to prisoners by their noms de guerre: Abu Udai, Abu Ismail, and Hitler.

The prisoners who were sexually abused in March had tried to fight back. They had organized three hunger strikes to protest their treatment. They had launched a campaign with their families to get human rights groups to secure their release.

That’s when the 15 Emirati officers showed up with their dogs.

___

The Associated Press reported this story with help from a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

___

Associated Press reporters Lolita C. Baldor and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.

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Jail term doubled for 13-year-old girl’s rapist

Retired employee sentenced to 10 years in jail after prosecutors appeal against five-year term

Gulf News, Bassam Za'za', Legal and Court Correspondent

Dubai: Prosecutors won their appeal against a retired employee, who will spend 10 years in jail for raping a 13-year-old schoolgirl in his car each time he took her and her brothers fishing.

The 55-year-old retired man, from Comoros Islands, befriended the Yemeni girl and her brothers when he told them that their father was his co-worker and started taking them out and spending time with them in August.

Then he started taking them on fishing trips near the Al Shindagha.

Every time he took the children for fishing, he would send the brothers to buy dinner while keeping the girl in his car where he would have sex with her.

The defendant was exposed when a witness reported to police that he had spotted the girl alone inside the car with the 55-year-old, who had parked his car in a suspicious manner.

Police went to the location and apprehended the 55-year-old man after having watched him for some time.

In March, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the defendant five years for having sex with a minor despite having pleaded not guilty.

The defendant appealed his primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have his punishment reduced.

Prosecutors also appealed the five-year imprisonment and asked the appellate court to stiffen the punishment.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif overruled the defendant’s appeal, accepted that of prosecutors and lengthened the punishment to 10 years in jail.

The accused will be deported on completion of his term.

The defendant exploited the girl’s age and abused the fact that he was close to her brothers since he was their father’s co-worker, said records.

The 13-year-old girl said the accused had sex with her every time she and her brothers went fishing with him at the beach.

“We used to go to the beach for fishing and riding bicycles. We became close to the defendant since we knew that he worked with our father. One day, he sent my brothers to buy food and asked me to sit with him in his car. He asked me to sit in the back … I was afraid that he would kill me and so I did as he said. He removed my clothes and did something bad to me for two minutes. Then we went out and joined my brothers for dinner. Later, he repeated what he had done earlier. A third time, he could not do anything because the police came and stopped him,” she was cited as telling prosecutors.

A police lieutenant said a witness reported that he suspected a man who had been parking his car near Al Shindagha and staying inside it with a 13-year-old girl.

“The witness saw the defendant stepping out of his car while fixing his kandora. We seized alcohol bottles in the defendant’s car and sex enhancement pills,” the lieutenant claimed to prosecutors.

The appeal ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.

Boy, 11, was raped and strangled to death
in Abu Dhabi
Pakistani suspect arrested in 
11-year-old boy’s murder

Azan Majid Janjua  Image Credit: Supplied

Gulf News, Binsal Abdul Kader, Senior Reporter

Abu Dhabi: An 11-year old boy, whose body was found on the rooftop of his residential building on Wednesday, had been raped and murdered, Abu Dhabi Police confirmed on Wednesday.

Major General Maktoum Al Sharifi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Police, said the police have arrested a Pakistani man who confessed that he raped the victim and strangled him to death.

Al Sharifi, in a statement, praised the efficient efforts of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which led to the immediate arrest of the suspect.

The police did not reveal any further details about the suspect.

A family friend of the boy told Gulf News on Monday that the family has been waiting for the completion of formalities to receive the boy’s body. “The family has not decided about the burial… whether to do it in Abu Dhabi or Pakistan or Russia,” said the friend who did not want to be named.

The building where the boy lived. His body was found on the rooftop of this building.Image Credit: Binsal Abdul Kader/Gulf News

Gulf News exclusively reported on Friday that the boy’s father is a Pakistani and mother a Russian. The mother, who used to visit her son in Abu Dhabi, was in the city when the tragedy occurred.

The boy, Azan Majid Janjua, went missing on Tuesday and his body was found the next morning. His father, Dr Majid Janjua, had told Gulf News that Azan was fasting and had gone to the mosque for afternoon prayers and Quran recitation and he then went missing. Some neighbours saw the boy returning from the mosque but he never reached home. An extensive search by the family for the boy proved futile.

AC technicians, who went to the building’s rooftop to check a malfunctioning chiller, found his body there on Wednesday morning.

“His body was half-naked and the Quran was beside him,” the father said.

Azan was Dr Janjua’s first son born to his first wife whom he met while studying medicine in Russia. 

As they did not live together for a while, Azan, who was also a Russian national, lived with his mother in Russia.

As part of a mutual agreement between parents, Azan started living with his father around two-and-a-half years ago.

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr Janjua has been living in the same building for the past six years with his father, his second wife and two young children. “We had a nice time since Azan joined us. He liked his younger siblings,” he said.

Azan, said the father, did not have the habit of roaming around and was a disciplined boy. “He never went outside without our permission,” he said.

For Dr Janjua, the UAE has been like home as he came here as a small child. “My grandfather and father were living here. Soon after my birth in Pakistan, I was brought to the UAE,” said Dr Janjua who works with a medical insurance company in Abu Dhabi.

The happy moments spent with his son on that fateful day are still vivid in the father’s mind. “He woke up early and had suhour with us. We went for Fajr prayers at the masjid [mosque] and he was [in a] happy [frame of mind],” Dr Janjua had said.

Devon Mormon bishop accused of child sex abuse

By Paul_Greaves  

A former Mormon bishop has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing two girls in Devon.

Stewart Allsford, 66, was a representative of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, at the time of the alleged abuse in the 1990s.

He admits indecently assaulting one of the girls when she 14 but denies five other charges of sex abuse. On the first day of his trial at Exeter Crown Court the jury heard from the alleged victim, now an adult, who said she had tried to hide what had happened from other people as she felt she was somehow to blame.

The offences only came to light when her boyfriend found her childhood diaries and discovered a page describing the defendant's alleged attempts to kiss and touch her. She thought she had destroyed all the evidence because she did not want anyone to know.

She told police: "My boyfriend saw my diary. I can't even remember writing it. I do remember sitting at the bottom of my garden and ripping pages out and chucking them in the bin. I feel stupid that I left one page and someone discovered it. I have felt it every day of my life. I thought everybody would think I'm a disgusting person because I didn't complain at the time.

"I was doing so well. Before I could keep quiet and it didn't matter because nobody is going to ask me any questions. It annoys me I didn't rip it out as I could have kept it quiet. They would have thought it was my own fault and blamed me."

Paignton, Devon, UK

The alleged victim broke down in tears several times as she gave evidence. "It has got to the point where I can't keep it in and secret anymore. I needed to tell someone so I went to the police.

Mark Worsley, defending, said Allsford said the sexual assault only happened when the girl was 14. "That's not true," said the witness.

Allsford, of Davies Avenue in Paignton, is also accused of indecently assaulting a second girl under 13. He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of indecent assault, one of assault by penetration and one of abducting a child under 16. The latter charge relates to an alleged trip he made in his car with a third girl without permission from her parents.

Prosecutor David Sapiecha said Allsford, who is yet to give evidence, told police the victims were lying.

The trial continues.

Onslow Co. Sheriff’s Office nets 2 on

child sex abuse charges

WNCT Staff

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Two men have been charged with sexually abusing children under the age of 16 after two separate Special Victims Unit investigations by the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office.

Harvey Lee Essary Jr., 45, of Scotts Creek Drive in New Bern, was arrested Friday and charged with one felony count of second-degree forcible rape, one felony count of statutory rape, one count child abuse (sexual act) and one count of felony indecent liberties with a child.

He was transported to the Onslow County Detention Center under a $200,000 secured bond.

In a separate case, Gary James Strachan Jr., 37, of Davis Street in Jacksonville was also arrested Friday and charged with two felony counts of statutory sexual offense with a minor under the age of 16, three felony counts indecent liberties with a child and three felony counts of child abuse (sexual act).

He was transported to the Onslow County Detention Center under a $485,000 secured bond.

Anyone with information about either of these incidences may contact Onslow County Sheriff’s Office at 910-455-3113.

Former fake surgeon charged with

felony child sex abuse

KGW 

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Lucas Orlin Ebert, who made national headlines after he was arrested in 2011 for impersonating an OHSU doctor, is back in court on seven felony charges of sex abuse involving a minor.

Ebert, 27, of Gresham, was in court Monday. Court documents say the victim is a girl known to Ebert. During Monday's court appearance, Ebert was instructed to have no contact with the victim. He is being held on no bail because of a parole violation.

The documents say Ebert is a student at Portland Community College. His next court date is Tuesday, June 13 at 9:30 a.m. for a preliminary hearing.

In 2011, Ebert posed as a doctor at OHSU for at least two weeks and fooled a female patient into believing he was a plastic surgery resident. 

Ebert has a checkered criminal history. He has been convicted of 11 felonies, including criminal mistreatment, practicing medicine without a license, negotiating a bad check, identity theft and forgery.

Prineville man gets 9 years for child sex abuse

Mother found video evidence

Aubrey Wieber
The Bulletin

A Prineville, Oregon man was sentenced to more than nine years in prison Monday for luring a 15-year-old boy to a Bend hotel, where he recorded the two of them having sex.

Christopher Stout, 43, was arrested Feb. 21 and charged with 20 counts of various luring and sexual abuse crimes. He pleaded guilty Thursday to four of the counts: luring a minor, third-degree sodomy, using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse. Per a plea agreement, the other 16 charges were dismissed.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Walter Miller accepted the deal Monday, sentencing Stout to 111 months in prison.

After his release, Stout will also have to register as a sex offender and will not be able to have contact with minors or use the internet without permission from a judge or his post-prison supervision officer.

Stout, who at the time was a U.S. Forest Service employee, has no prior criminal history. Before being sentenced Monday, he apologized for his actions, calling them “reprehensible.”

For the charge of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, Stout was sentenced to 70 months. That crime falls under M

“I would like to express just how deeply sorry I am for my actions,” he said.

'Self-admitted predator' sentenced to 19 years

for child sexual abuse

DON LEHMAN

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. — A registered sex offender who was indicted last year for sexually abusing three young boys was sentenced to 19 years in state prison Friday after a judge heard how he admitted he was a sexual predator who couldn’t refrain from child sexual abuse without help.

Daryl A. Tucker, 38, of Warrensburg, pleaded guilty in April to two felony charges for abuse of two of the boys in recent years, one of whom was repeatedly abused over a five-year period. He pleaded guilty to counts of criminal sexual act and course of sexual conduct against a child, the second time he had pleaded guilty to molesting multiple children.

He agreed to a plea deal that included a prison sentence of between 18 and 20 years, to be followed by 10 years on parole.

After hearing a request by Warren County Assistant District Attorney Emilee Davenport for 20 years, while defense lawyer Robert E. Kelly asked for 18, Warren County Judge John Hall split the difference Friday and ordered a 19-year term.

In all, authorities have identified at least nine child victims of Tucker’s over the years.

Tucker offered a brief apology Friday when asked by Hall whether he had anything to say.

Kelly read a statement written by his client, in which he said he wished he could “fix” what happened and that the boys “find a way to get through this.”

“I hope they get help so they don’t end up like me,” Kelly read.

Tucker was acquainted with the children, and county Crime Victims Specialist Manon Affinito read a statement from the mother of one of them in which she called him “evil.”

“He stole (the victim’s) innocence and as much as I want to heal him, I can’t give him that back,” the mother wrote. “He hurt our entire family.”

Davenport told Hall that Tucker is a “self-admitted predator” who repeatedly abused multiple children.

“These weren’t one-time things, these were happening over a period of years,” Davenport said.

Tucker was a Level 3 sex offender at the time of his arrest last spring by State Police. He was a registered sex offender at that point, after he pleaded guilty in 1999 to felony charges related to allegations he abused four boys between the ages of 5 and 11. He served nearly 8 years in prison in that case.

With convictions for cases that involved sexual abuse of seven children, Tucker will likely face civil confinement proceedings when he becomes eligible for release. That could lead to him being held in a special facility for high-risk sex offenders after his prison term is over.

He will not be eligible for parole until he serves nearly 17 years of the prison term.