http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=100852&d=6&m=9&y=2007&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
Thursday, 6, September, 2007 (24, Sha`ban, 1428)
Maid Rescued After 8 Years of Forced Labor
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
Anista Marie
RIYADH, 6 September 2007 - Just over three weeks ago a woman
called up Arab News claiming to be a Sri Lankan maid who has been imprisoned
and abused in the home of her sponsor for the past decade. Yesterday, Riyadh
police, working with the Sri Lankan Embassy, rescued Anista Marie, 40, who has
not received her salary since 1999.
"I still cannot believe that I am out of this ordeal that I
have undergone for the past 10 years," Marie told Arab News with tears flowing
down her cheeks.
The rescue took place at a villa in Khansalallilah district,
some 12 km away from the Riyadh city center. The maid's sponsor refused to give
up her passport to police, and it is unclear what if any punitive actions will
be taken by authorities against the woman who Marie alleged has been her
abusive overseer in what the maid earlier claimed was an all-woman household.
"We are thankful to the Saudi authorities for rendering
necessary assistance to redeem the woman from this house where she has been a
virtual slave for more than a decade," said W.S.M.S. Wijesundera, charge
d'affaires at the Sri Lankan Embassy.
He said the mission had to send a team of officials with the
Saudi police to take her out from the clutches of the sponsors who were
reluctant to send the maid. Police did not detain the sponsor yesterday for
alleged illegal imprisonment and violation of labor laws. It is not known if
Marie's working visa is current, or if the sponsor also violated the law for
allowing the visa to lapse.
Meanwhile, Marie said that she has been confined indoors
during daylight hours for most of the past decade and that the bright Saudi sun
is hard on her eyes. "They only took me out at night so that I could not locate
the house," she said.
When this reporter received a phone call on Aug. 14 from
Marie, she told Arab News that she didn't know where she was located. She said
that the only reason why she knew she was somewhere in Riyadh was because a
maid of a visiting family once told her of her general location. Now Marie, a
widow with four children from an impoverished fishing family in Chilaw, 70 km
from Colombo, just wants to go home.
"I do not want anything now but to fly home to see my
children who have been suffering like orphans without their parents," Marie
said.
In the Aug. 14 phone call, Marie said she was paid for the
first two years of her employment, and that she was allowed to go out with the
family. At the time, she was under the impression that she would be eventually
allowed a home visit. She said she even bought clothes for her children
planning for that trip.
"Back then I bought things for my children," she said.
"They're still packed in two suitcases and the clothes can't be used by my
children now because they've grown out of them."
During this time, her husband passed away and her children
have been in the care of extended family. She said it took two years for her to
hear news that her husband had died.
Sri Lankan Embassy officials are making arrangements for
Marie to speak to her children over the phone. Marie is currently in the care
of the Sri Lankan Embassy, which like other South Asian missions, has
facilities to care for runaway and abused domestic staff, mainly women working
as housemaids.
According to the maid, the household consists of three women
with four teenage daughters. "There were no men in the house," she said. "They
assaulted me when I would say that I wanted to go home. It was worse when I
talked about the salary."
Marie said a sympathizer helped her get in contact with Arab
News.
Wijesundera said that the mission would negotiate with the
sponsor to pay her past dues including her salary, holiday pay and other
allowances due to her according to the local regulations.
"She comes from a poor family and she needs some money to
send home. I will request my community members and the Sri Lankan Expatriates
Society (SLES) in Riyadh to give her help in whatever form to rehabilitate her
family back home," the diplomat said.
It was unclear yesterday if the maid's sponsor will face
criminal charges or whether anything more than negotiating for nonpayment of
eight years of salary will take place.
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