03-06-2006, 12:47 AM
[March 03, 2006]
<b>
Sri Lankan maid jumps out of limousine</b>
(Gulf News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Riyadh: In a horrific incident, a Sri Lankan maid servant tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a limousine in which she was travelling.
The maid, who sustained multiple injuries and fractures, was hospitalised following the incident that took place on King Fahd Road at 10am on Wednesday in Riyadh city.
The mentally disturbed young woman, another victim of torture and beating by a Saudi family, was seen weeping all through her travel to seek asylum at the Sri Lankan embassy in the capital city. Police started investigations into the incident.
Rana, another woman who was travelling in the limousine together with the maid servant, narrated the incident thus: "For more than a year I used to go to office and come back in a limousine driven by a Pakistani national.
"On Thursday, while I was getting into the limousine, I was surprised to see a woman sitting in the car and weeping. The limousine driver told me that she wanted to go to the Sri Lankan embassy. That time, I insisted he should take me first to my work place and then to the embassy.
"On the way, I tried to console her and understand her problems. I failed in my effort as the newly-recruited maid didn't know Arabic. What I understood from her gestures was that she was beaten and harassed by the family members of her sponsor,'' the woman said.
"While she was narrating her story, all of a sudden she opened the door and jumped out of the speeding limousine. She fell in the middle of the road amidst several vehicles," Rana said. Police from the Suleimaniya district rushed to the scene and started an investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, sources at the Sri Lankan embassy told Gulf News that it had sent an official to the police station to collect details of the incident and procedures of the investigation.
It is noteworthy that Saudi labour rules stipulate stringent punitive measures against sponsors or employers who are found guilty of harassing their workers especially housemaids.
Ahmad Al Zamil, undersecretary for the affairs of labourers at the Ministry of Labour, said that such treatment is contradictory to both the Islamic Sharia and the labour laws of the country as well. "The maid servant is entitled to get all her legitimate rights and allowances, and those found guilty will be punished and will be barred from hiring any more maids in future," he said.
The story of an Indonesian housemaid named Noor Mayani was in the limelight for a long time in Saudi Arabia after it grabbed newspaper headlines in May last year. The maid had been subjected to continuous torture and beating for a whole month at the house of a Saudi citizen. Saudi authorities took strict punitive actions against the culprits in her case.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-sri-lankan-.../03/1426807.htm
<b>
Sri Lankan maid jumps out of limousine</b>
(Gulf News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Riyadh: In a horrific incident, a Sri Lankan maid servant tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a limousine in which she was travelling.
The maid, who sustained multiple injuries and fractures, was hospitalised following the incident that took place on King Fahd Road at 10am on Wednesday in Riyadh city.
The mentally disturbed young woman, another victim of torture and beating by a Saudi family, was seen weeping all through her travel to seek asylum at the Sri Lankan embassy in the capital city. Police started investigations into the incident.
Rana, another woman who was travelling in the limousine together with the maid servant, narrated the incident thus: "For more than a year I used to go to office and come back in a limousine driven by a Pakistani national.
"On Thursday, while I was getting into the limousine, I was surprised to see a woman sitting in the car and weeping. The limousine driver told me that she wanted to go to the Sri Lankan embassy. That time, I insisted he should take me first to my work place and then to the embassy.
"On the way, I tried to console her and understand her problems. I failed in my effort as the newly-recruited maid didn't know Arabic. What I understood from her gestures was that she was beaten and harassed by the family members of her sponsor,'' the woman said.
"While she was narrating her story, all of a sudden she opened the door and jumped out of the speeding limousine. She fell in the middle of the road amidst several vehicles," Rana said. Police from the Suleimaniya district rushed to the scene and started an investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, sources at the Sri Lankan embassy told Gulf News that it had sent an official to the police station to collect details of the incident and procedures of the investigation.
It is noteworthy that Saudi labour rules stipulate stringent punitive measures against sponsors or employers who are found guilty of harassing their workers especially housemaids.
Ahmad Al Zamil, undersecretary for the affairs of labourers at the Ministry of Labour, said that such treatment is contradictory to both the Islamic Sharia and the labour laws of the country as well. "The maid servant is entitled to get all her legitimate rights and allowances, and those found guilty will be punished and will be barred from hiring any more maids in future," he said.
The story of an Indonesian housemaid named Noor Mayani was in the limelight for a long time in Saudi Arabia after it grabbed newspaper headlines in May last year. The maid had been subjected to continuous torture and beating for a whole month at the house of a Saudi citizen. Saudi authorities took strict punitive actions against the culprits in her case.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-sri-lankan-.../03/1426807.htm
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