Man gets jail, caning, for human trafficking after Singaporean woman became sex worker in Dubai

Published Oct 07, 2026, 03:29 PM

Updated Oct 07, 2026, 03:29 PM

Achraf Arjaouy promised to marry a Singaporean woman and she later became a sex worker in Dubai.

Achraf, who is an Italian citizen, was convicted of human trafficking charge in April after a trial.

The woman returned to Singapore after contracting an undisclosed sexually transmitted disease

SINGAPORE - A man who promised to marry a Singaporean woman and later made her perform sex work in Dubai was sentenced to eight years’ jail, six strokes of the cane and a fine of $9,000 on Oct 7.

Achraf Arjaouy, 32, an Italian citizen, was convicted of a human trafficking charge in April after a trial.

He will have to spend an additional six weeks behind bars should be fail to pay the fine.

The woman, identified as V1 in court documents, flew back to Singapore after she contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that Achraf arrived in Singapore in March 2021 and matched with V1 on a dating app the following month.

The prosecution had said that during a whirlwind courtship, Achraf told the victim he wanted to marry her in Qatar. She was overjoyed and agreed to travel with him to Dubai en route to Qatar.

However, Achraf never intended to take V1 to Qatar and did not want to marry her.

Court documents stated that Achraf had lied to V1, claiming he came from a wealthy Qatari family and was a pilot for Qatar Airways.

The prosecution said Achraf had told V1 that their relationship would end if she refused to travel with him to Dubai.

The victim agreed to leave her life in Singapore behind, and the pair travelled to the United Arab Emirates on April 21, 2021.

While there, Achraf claimed she needed to show US$10,000 (S$12,800) as proof of funds to enter Qatar. This was not true.

Because she did not have the money, Achraf told V1 to prostitute herself to raise the money . She gave in after he pestered her.

The prosecutors said he took intimate photographs of her, created profiles for her on escort websites in Dubai, solicited customers for her, and booked a hotel for her to provide sexual services.

Achraf collected her daily earnings.

Court documents stated that V1 stopped engaging in prostitution in September 2021 after contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

She flew back to Singapore two months later.

Separately, Ashraf has 16 other pending charges, including multiple counts of cheating, and these will be dealt with later.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.

Prostitution/Commercial sex

发布于 2026 年 10 月 7 日下午 3:29

更新于2026年10月7日下午3:29

阿什拉夫·阿尔贾维答应娶一名新加坡女子，而该女子后来在迪拜沦为性工作者。

阿什拉夫是意大利公民，今年4月经审判被判犯有人口贩运罪。

该女子在感染了一种未公开的性传播疾病后返回新加坡。

新加坡——一名男子承诺娶一名新加坡女子为妻，后来却强迫她在迪拜从事性交易。10月7日，该男子被判处8年监禁、6下鞭刑和9000美元罚款。

32岁的意大利公民阿什拉夫·阿尔贾维在4月份经过审判后被判犯有人口贩运罪。

如果他未能缴纳罚款，将被加判六周监禁。

法庭文件中将这名女子称为 V1，她在感染性传播疾病后飞回了新加坡。

在之前的诉讼程序中，法庭获悉，阿什拉夫于 2021 年 3 月抵达新加坡，并在次月通过约会应用程序与 V1 配对成功。

检方称，在一段闪电般的恋爱过程中，阿什拉夫告诉受害者他想在卡塔尔与她结婚。她欣喜若狂，同意与他一起前往迪拜，然后再转机前往卡塔尔。

然而，阿什拉夫从未打算将V1带到卡塔尔，也不想娶她。

法庭文件显示，阿什拉夫向V1电视台撒谎，声称自己出身于卡塔尔富裕家庭，并且是卡塔尔航空公司的飞行员。

检方称，阿什拉夫曾告诉V1，如果她拒绝和他一起去迪拜，他们的关系就会结束。

受害者同意放弃她在新加坡的生活，两人于 2021 年 4 月 21 日前往阿拉伯联合酋长国。

阿什拉夫在卡塔尔期间声称，她需要出示1万美元（约合1.28万新元）的资金证明才能入境卡塔尔。这并非事实。

由于她没有钱，阿什拉夫让V1卖淫筹钱。在阿什拉夫的纠缠下，她最终屈服了。

检方称他拍摄了她的私密照片，在迪拜的伴游网站上为她创建了个人资料，为她招揽顾客，并为她预订了一家酒店，让她提供性服务。

阿什拉夫领取了她每天的收入。

法庭文件显示，V1 在 2021 年 9 月感染性传播疾病后停止了卖淫活动。

两个月后，她飞回了新加坡。

此外，阿什拉夫还有 16 项待决指控，包括多项欺诈罪名，这些指控将稍后处理。

沙菲克·阿尔哈提卜是《海峡时报》的法庭记者，主要报道国家法院审理的刑事案件。

卖淫/商业性行为