Tanzanian woman claims she was tortured and raped in Iraq

Tanzanian national (name withheld) who was reportedly hired as domestic worker in Iraq has claimed that she was routinely tortured by her boss and raped multiple times by different men.

This was stated by State Attorney Mosia Kaima at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court where the accused only identified as Masoli is facing charges of human trafficking.

The defendant is alleged to have committed the offense on June 16, 2021 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) and on that day he transported a woman whose name has been withheld.

According to State Attorney Kaima, the victim claimed that the respondent had advertised for domestic jobs in Arab countries, including Turkey, on his social media pages.

He claimed that the plaintiff, after seeing the advertisement, contacted the defendant through a text message who told him that the available jobs included domestic work, shop attendant and cleaning at a hospital.

Kaima claimed that the complainant immediately began preparing travel documents and they planned to go to the Amana Referral Hospital in Dar es Salaam to take the test Covid-19.

"When they arrived at Amana Hospital to test for Covid-19, he met two other women and they were being transported to Turkey," said State Attorney.

On June 11, 2021, the defendant told the plaintiff and two other women to meet at the Kipawa gas station, to collect travel documents and to sign a work contract.

However, according to Kaima the complainant said that after signing the contract they were given travel documents, but they were not given a work contract.

The three women then headed to the Julius Nyerere International Airport where they met a certain man  who directed them to board a flight to Dubai, however when they arrived they were surprised to be told to board a plane to Kurdistan, in Iraq.

When they arrived in Iraq they were received by their new hosts at an office and their passports were confiscated and they were put in a room where they were given one meal a day.

It was then that she realized that they had been lured into prostitution racket because on a daily basis men of Arab origin would come to choose the woman of their choice and leave with her.

According to the plaintiff's statement, she later given a domestic job, but her boss turned out to be abusive and would physically assault her, including giving her a single meal, and besides she was also not afforded treatment. Other jobs included cleaning the boss’ cat.

During her stay, in Iraq though it is not stated in the affidavit how long she served at her work station, she was never paid a penny and she was raped regularly by multiple partners.

She reached out to her family in Tanzania who raised the issue with Masoli but he was adamant and told the family that in order for the defendant to return her family had to pay compensation of $4,000 (Sh9.2million) for breach of contract.

It was at that point that her family reported the matter at Tabata Police Station in Ilala District, Dar es Salaam, who arrested Masoli and forced him to bring back the complainant at his own costs.

It is not clear whether the other women were also brought back to Tanzania and who else was involved in the trafficking racket with Masoli.

The case was adjourned until January 25 after court was told that the defendant had written to the DPP to enter a plea bargain.