The Mirzo Ulugbek district criminal court passed the sentence on Gozala Shamova, who was born in 1979 and who is a resident in central Tashkent Region, for smuggling three of her compatriots into Syria, the report said.

The TV went on to give the details of how Shamova tricked the girls into going to Jordan: at the beginning of February 2009, she offered a job in Jordan to the three who were close neighbours, and promised them a US$1,000 salary per month.

"[In Damascus] they took us to a club. A man named Komil also came along and led us to the owner of the club. He was a man named Mr Said. Komil introduced us to him. They told us that we would work at the club until our visas were ready. Our job was consummation," one of the victims, interviewed for the report, said.

Investigations showed that Shamova, together with Komil, sold the girls to the owner of the club for US$500 each, the report said.

"When I asked the disco club’s director for my salary after I had worked for a month, he said he would not give me money, but ironically, said that I owed him US$1,300. It meant that I had to work for three more months for free," another victim said.

Having realized the situation they were in, the girls later sought help from Uzbekistan and were brought back to the homeland, the report concluded.