Nail torture case shines light on Asia’s migrant maids
| FEATURE |
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COLOMBO — L.P. Ariyawathie said she got a taste of what was in store for her just weeks after leaving her native Sri Lanka to work as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia.
At first, she said, her employers mocked the basic Arabic she had learnt during a 15-day training course before she left for the Gulf. Then, events took a more sinister turn.
“The torture started when a plate was broken by accident. (My employer) asked me whether I was blind and tried to prick something in my right eye,” the 49-year-old said.
“When I covered it with my hand, they pricked a needle on my forehead above the eye.”
Ariyawathie returned home from Riyadh last month, traumatized after what she said was months of beatings and abuse. Doctors had to operate to remove dozens of nails and needles driven into her forehead, legs and arms.
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100916com6.html
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