Saturday, September 16, 2006

Dubai ruler sued for enslaving children as camel jockeys

Web posted at: 9/15/2006 7:59:36 Source : AFP
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MIAMI A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in US district court alleging that the ruler of Dubai and his brother enslaved some 30,000 children over the past three decades for use as camel jockeys, the US attorneys announced here.

The 56-page suit, which bases its case on international laws banning slavery and the use of child labour, names Dubai ruler and United Arab Emirates vice president H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as well as others.

They are charged with "the alleged abduction and human trafficking of
thousands of young boys" from places like Bangladesh, Sudan and southern Asia, according to a release by the South Carolina-based law firm Motley Rice LLC.

According to the complaint "boys as young as two years old have been stolen from their families, trafficked across international borders, and kept in brutal camel-racing camps throughout the United Arab Emirates, forced to train camels and perform as jockeys." By filing the suit "we hope to punish the perpetrators of these vile crimes and compensate the victims for their pain and suffering," said Motley Rice attorney Ron Motley.

The suit was filed on behalf of six unidentified parents, and the attorneys
are seeking class action status on behalf of more than 30,000 children going back to the 1970s who may have been victims. The suit calls for a jury to determine the amount of payment to the victims. The case was filed in Miami because the defendants have property in the state, including a horse ranch in central Florida.

Reproduced by permission of IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, Israel.
 
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=30951