DUBAI: A Pakistani man in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been charged with molesting a 12-year-old Filipina girl at her house in July, local newspapers reported on Tuesday. The 29-year-old driver is being accused of fondling the girl against her will and the first session began on Sunday. According to a Khaleej Times report, the driver and three other workers, came to the girl's home in al-Qusais on July 8, for maintenance work on an air-conditioner, the girl's mother said. Then, according to statements from the young girl, the man “smiled at her before grabbing her cheeks” and fondling her “on purpose.” She then ran to her mother and told her about the incident. In turn, the mother confronted the driver, who was then still fixing the air-conditioner in the bedroom. The mother said the man apologized to her before the security guard of the building came to detain him. Police later took the accused to the police station. Women's advocates in the UAE are hopeful that the man will be found guilty and sentenced to jail. However, they are worried that the court could possibly charge the young girl with a crime, as historical precedence has shown. Earlier this year, a criminal court in Abu Dhabi has sentenced an 18-year-old Emirati woman to a year in prison for illicit sex after she reported that 6 men had gang-raped her. “It is completely sad how the courts in the UAE are treating women's issues and sexual violence,” said Marwa Jundour, a young university student and women's rights activist online. She told Bikyamasr.com that she believes that “these cases, however small, must be found guilty and sentenced or there will be no justice for perpetrators of violence against women.” BM
