Death in Dubai
Story
Twenty-three-year-old Mona Kizz was a Ugandan influencer who became known as “the queen of #Dubaiportapotty”—a disturbing online trend of Arab men defecating in African women’s mouths. When the clip went viral, she jumped to her death from a Dubai high-rise.
Except that’s not the truth. BBC Africa Eye investigative journalist Runako Celina says, “The internet is wrong about Mona Kizz, whose real name is Monic Karungi, and the reality is even darker than I could have imagined.”
The documentary investigates allegations that Ugandan women are being lured to Dubai with promises of work, only to be forced into prostitution. It shows that Monic was not the only woman to fall to her death from a Dubai high-rise—and raises questions about whether either death was really a suicide.
“I thought I’d seen and heard it all, but this documentary broke me.”
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Did you know?
Listen to the Gracie-winning podcast, which was also a finalist at the Amnesty Media Awards, or read the original BBC article.
Runako Celina has welcomed the way the documentary moved the conversation around Monic away from rumour and online cruelty and back towards dignity and accountability.
If you have information to add to the investigation, contact runako@bbc.co.uk. Information about support after sexual abuse or with feelings of despair is available from BBC Action Line.
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Uganda | +60 min | +1m views | True crime | English | Diaspora | Luganda | East Africa | 2026 | Documentaries