Saudi Employers Torture Maids and Get Away With It

This week, Sri Lankan doctors removed 13 out of 24 nails and five needles from deep within the flesh of LP Ariyawathie, who was working in Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker. She claims they were driven there by her employers in Saudi Arabia, as punishment for not performing tasks up to par. The Saudi government claims she is lying. But Ariyawathie is not the first woman to travel to Saudi Arabia for work and return tortured, nor will she likely be the last.

Ariyawathie traveled from Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia in March to work for a family as a domestic servant, hoping to earn enough money to help her sick daughter back home. But working in Saudi Arabia turned out to be hell. Every time Ariyawathie had trouble understanding Arabic instructions, and every time she made an mistake in her duties, she was hit by her employers and their children. Then, they began sticking needles and driving nails into her hands, feet, and legs. Eventually, once the nails made it too hard for her to walk, her employers took her back to the agency and they deported her to Sri Lanka. Ariyawathie was an immigrant, making her more vulnerable to human trafficking; the Immigrants Rights blog has another excellent take on this story.

Saudi Arabia has the gaul to claim that this is all one big lie, and that the maid was never abused by her employers. Even if there was little evidence, that would be a cold stance to take given the severity of the allegations. But it's pretty damn hard to fake 24 needles and nails being lodged in your body. And it's  even harder to fake video footage of their removal, below, with more after the jump.

The Saudi government's cries of wolf are even more doubtful since this isn't the first time they've refused to address the torture of a foreign domestic worker by a Saudi family. In 2008, an Indonesian woman had to have several fingers and toes amputated after being tied up and left without food for a month by her Saudi employers. The court awarded her a mere $670 for her pain and dropped all criminal charges against the employer. Another Saudi woman got away with burning a domestic worker with a hot iron and knife after she asked for her salary.The torture of maids in Saudi Arabia is moving quickly from isolated instances to a disturbing pattern.

Human trafficking and brutalization like Ariyawathie experienced is not uncommon among domestic workers, and can be even more difficult to discover because it's so hidden. But Saudi Arabia and other governments of the world need to protect domestic workers from torture like every one else.

Photo credit: barkbd