The New Slavery: from Arabia without Love…………..
“COLOMBO - A Sri Lankan housemaid has returned home from Saudi Arabia with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer, officials said Wednesday. A government minister said police were investigating a complaint from L. T. Ariyawathi, 49, that her Saudi employer tortured her and drove nails into her body as punishment. "We are conducting an investigation and we will coordinate with Saudi authorities to have the suspects arrested," Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters. The woman travelled to Saudi Arabia in March and returned home last week, complaining of abuse by her employer. Abeywardena said doctors who examined the woman found the nails inside her body and she was currently being treated at a local hospital. Some of the nails are about two inches (five centimetres) long, according to pictures of the X-rays published in the local press, and were driven beneath the skin of Ariyawathi's hands, feet and legs………….”
These abuses continue in many Arab countries simply because these housemaids are completely under the control of their employers. They are at their mercy, with no legal recourse and no one to advocate for their rights. The police almost always side with the native employers. Their own embassies are hardly helpful because they need them working in order to send foreign exchange home. Just check the number of Asian and African housemaids who die or are maimed each week in places like Lebanon and Jordan- all officially recorded as "accidental" or "self-inflicted", of course.
Cheers
mhg
m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com
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