Community | August 27, 2010 | 32 comments

Surgeons Remove 18 Heated Metal Nails Allegedly Hammered Into a Housemaid's Body by Her Employers

source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/27/sri.lanka.maid.assault/index.html?iref=obnetwork

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EthicalVegan
Doctors remove nails allegedly hammered into maid by employers
By Iqbal Athas, For CNN
August 27, 2010 9:43 a.m. EDT

Photo: An X-ray shows nails hammered into the body of a Sri Lankan maid.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: Doctors remove nails from the maid's body
* She was attacked after complaining of being overworked
* Sri Lankan officials are urging the Saudis to conduct an investigation
* The victim is among thousands of Sri Lankan migrant workers




Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Doctors at a Sri Lankan hospital operated for three hours Friday to remove 18 nails and metal particles allegedly hammered into the arms, legs and forehead of a maid by her Saudi employer.

Dr. Kamal Weeratunga said the surgical team in the southern town of Kamburupitiya pulled nails ranging from about one to three inches from Lahadapurage Daneris Ariyawathie's body. He said doctors have not yet removed four small metal particles embedded in her muscles.

"She is under heavy antibiotics but in a stable condition," Weeratunga said.

Sri Lankan officials, meanwhile, met with Saudi diplomats in Colombo to urge an investigation into the incident.

"It was cruel treatment which should be roundly condemned," said L.K. Ruhunuge of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.

He said the Sri Lanka government has forwarded to Saudi authorities a detailed report on the incident including statements from Ariyawathie.

Ariyawathie left Sri Lanka on March 25 to work as a housemaid in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the bureau registered her as a person obtaining a job from an officially recognized job agency.

She was held down by her employer's wife while the employer hammered the heated nails, Ruhunuge told CNN. She apparently had complained to the couple that she was being overworked, Ruhunuge said.

The nails were hammered into her arms and legs while one was on her forehead, he said.

"Most of the wounds are superficial but five to 10 are somewhat deep," said Dr. Prabath Gajadeera of the Base Hospital. "Luckily, none of the organs is affected. Only nerves and blood vessels are affected."

Ariyawathie, 49, is a mother of two children who were opposed to their mother's journey to Saudi Arabia for work.

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to about 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia, according to a report published earlier this year by Human Rights Watch.

Many of the domestic workers are poor Asian women from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal. Widespread abuse has been documented by global human rights groups.

Common complaints include unpaid wages, long working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees, said the Human Rights Watch report.

Isolation and forced confinement contribute to psychological and physical abuse, sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking, the report said. The abuse often goes unchecked because of a lack of government regulation and protective laws.

Ruhunuge said the registration of the local job agency that placed Ariyawathie has been cancelled.

"We have also asked [them] to pay compensation to the victim," he added. "We want to bring those responsible for justice. We are doing our best in this regard," he said.

He said his office was ready to accompany Ariyawathie to Saudi Arabia to testify if a case is brought against her former employers.

Ariyawathie's dream was to one day return to Sri Lanka and build a house with the money she saved.

"We are looking at the possibility of helping her to do this," Ruhunuge said.

Karu Jayasuriya, deputy leader of the main opposition United National Party, visited Ariyawathie in the hospital and said he was appalled.

"We want the government to raise this issue at the highest levels with the Saudi government. We cannot imagine that such crude and uncivilized things are happening to our workers," he said.

Saudi officials were not immediately available for comment.
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32 comments // Surgeons Remove 18 Heated Metal Nails Allegedly Hammered Into a Housemaid's Body by Her Employers

  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  

    • They are only our "allies" because they have oil and a shitload of money. That's it. They need our military there, or their brother Arabs, will just kill them and take what they have. It is not because we are trying to help them, we just want their oil and their money. Our government truly does not give a shit about the maids abuse, or their abuse of their other laborers building their shit. They have the oil, and because of the oil, they have the money. What happens when that oil runs out? They will cease to have any "friends". Which is us. When the Middle East runs out of oil, they will revert to the backwards, third world countries that they used to be. You can't eat all those Rolls Royces' that they have purchased. If you have no money, you can't buy our protection, and without that oil, we have no use for them. Adios, assholes. They will be on their own again.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • not germain to the story at all, but just a question.
      when you guys bash israel for thier treatment of palastinians as nazi torture, does this not show on the scale of abuse, israel isnt even close to what the arab world is doing in thier own backyard to one another?

      i have no problem with criticism of israels malevolent acts.but doesnt it seem beyond hyperbolic to aim so much fnger pointing at israel in a place where this standard of existance exists?

      let the bashing ensue................................

    • 1 year ago
  • ayipis
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • ayipis:

      msnbc, wich is the core of liberal media cant afford to offend zionists and avoid israel like the plague.
      cnn does most of it, not the left but moderate media.extreme left wackos do this too, but are taken as seriously as the tea party.
      regardless of what media puts out this brand of bullshit, im asking why it is so palatable in the face of truth.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
  • ayipis
  • freecrack
  • oppressed1
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • oppressed1:

      it has nothing to do with islam

      i worked as a dispatcher for the largest transportation company on long island.we were located near one of the richest areas in the world, sands point, and the surrounding areas had sands point envy.
      in sands point estate owners would call taxis to bring thier housekeepers to the train station for them to go home, and if they missed the cab or train would simply pay for another, cuz they are filthy rich like that, while roslyn's home owners (nieghboring town) werent as rich but tried to keep up twith the jonses.they would pay for cab rides to take thier help to the train station too, but couldnt swing it like the sands point folks.
      they wouldnt allow the help to leave until they got home (thus missing that train) or made them wait outside until the cab came if they got home early.btw it gets pretty damn cold on the north shore of long island in winter.

      the reason i bring this up as comparable is out of the bazillion house keepers and nannies i dispatched cars to over my five year tenure, one stands out in my mind.see she missed her first car cuz the people werent home and she couldnt leave, wich is common.the the thing about this one is that the people when they did come home, made her wait outside in the bitter cold until i could get another car to get her on the next train.when my driver got there my whole evening rush hour was fucked up cuz he demanded he take her to the hospital.she was in such a condition a taxi cab driver (not really known for high ethical character in general) chose to blow his other fares to the train to take this woman to the hospital in the other direction.

      it wasnt cuz the people where jewish,muslum,or christian that they cast a sick human being out in to the cold.it is just a masterclass subjugating a working class as less than human.at least in suadi arabia they dont have civil liberties and basic human rights to ignore in order to treat people less than human.what is the excuse that allows american to do this, with out question, or persecution.had that woman died on thier lawn they would have called waste management to remove her carcass.the saudis maybe sick as a culture, but what are we when we tolerate the same mentality?

    • 1 year ago
  • ayipis
  • neocongo
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • ayipis:

      ok then so then by the same train of thought, or lack there of, being as america is based on judeao christian law (all of wich by the way is based on the same abrahamic law) we should be asking priests about our society not judges.
      i guess judeo christianity has everything to do with abortions being legal, and us being a nation of addicts.good to know.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • neocongo:

      only if you view the two as only jewish and muslim theocracies wich niether are.
      israel isnt functioning as a representation of judaism, nor are the palastinians functioning in a matter that represents islam.the palastinians may embrace theocratic rule more, but are still more secualr than any other arab nation with may be turkey, and city areas of pakistan being the exception.
      unless in some other way that im not seeing, please explain

    • 1 year ago
  • Gabriele_Shone
    • +3
      Gabriele_Shone  

    • I've been dating a Saudi man for 3 years, and from hearing him voice his own disgust at his country, and learning certain things second or first hand, this is part of what I think the problem is: The government is reluctant to accuse its people of being in the wrong, and racism is rampant. Already being a country that has little regard for the rights of its own citizens, its very hard to expect much from officials when it comes to punishing or even recognizing cases of abuse. That would tarnish the image the government enjoys lording over the rest of the world of Saudi Arabia being morally superior to non-sharia states. There are similar issues with the government admitting to Saudi citizens being capable of contracting such a-moral things as stds or Aids, because that would be admitting that Saudi citizens engage in extra-marital sex, and, even worse, that Saudi men frequent the sites in neighboring countries that solicit prostitution.

      On racism, it is a rather rampant problem in Saudi Arabia. An encouraged view among many Saudi's is that they are better people, and that inclusive policies of nepotism and exclusive policies of exploitism are acceptable practices for business and monetary exchanges. In the common mindset, it is okay to spend excessive amounts of money expanding personal materialistic wealth, even if its at the expense of migrant workers. Employing any means possible is allowed as long as no offense is made against a fellow Saudi national. Nationalism is a very deep feeling among the Saudi people, but it often times leaves any one not included in that sentiment tossed to the sidelines.

      However, I encourage that along with the rage you would feel at learning about abusive practices against migrant maids in Saudi Arabia, you also acknowledge such terrible tragedies do occur in America, and our own mindset can be alarmingly similar, even if it does not bear the same results as often. Within our own country are many abused and exploited migrant workers, from sexually exploited Asian sex workers passed off as message therapists, to underpaid and overworked Mexican migrants. Not to mention the scores upon scores of trafficked underaged sex-slaves that come from either across the world or normal American suburbs and disappear into a sadistic and dark American underground. It's very easy to shake our fists in anger and proclaim disgust at a country that makes itself so easy to hate, but in order to do so, a degree of self-reflection is also necessary. True, we do have much better civil rights than Saudi Arabia, and yes, we do take definite measures to bring abusers to justice whether or not the victim is a migrant or not, but on the other hand, how much more civilized and better are we? Quite a bit? But how many of victims of our own require interference and help from crimes committed against them in our own country. And what are they victims of?

      Saudi Arabia must take action on this problem or else they will help to spread a terrible social problem. The must be willing to face abusers and tell them they are wrong, and be forceful in letting them know they will not stand for those practices. That is something they must do. But we should really know better than to expect more from a country with such a mockery of human rights, and we should also focus on how good of role models we really are when we demand such things from them. Do we really want them to slap our many indiscretions back in our faces when we tell them to tend to their problems?

    • 1 year ago
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  
    • Gabriele_Shone:

      You are very right in noting the economic and sexual abuse that exists here in the US as well as in other countries around the globe. The most fertile ground for this type of abuse seems to be in the sudden impact of concentrated wealth in formerly insular cultures. Humans use humans. The greatest abuses occur when one group imagines itself "special" and wholly different and dehumanizes others.
      Some members of the pampered and disconnected Saudi royal family fit into this category, as historically, have some Americans, some Germans, and some Japanese.
      I can't imagine too many human societies as being exempt from this type of dehumanization in similar circumstances.
      One tool we have now for exposing this type of exploitation is the one we are both using at the moment.
      Thank you for your thoughtful comment and its insight.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
  • Gabriele_Shone
    • 0
      Gabriele_Shone  
    • ampersand:

      Thank you. I've received many other replies that I'm not actually sure what what people are trying to say. They seem to feel I was saying Islam is the reason for the poor treatment..?? I don't really think it it has anything to do with religion at all, just a failure of society…

      But I do agree with you on the part of previously insular societies/groups being rocketed into wealth. It does have a very confusing impact on people, and it also does seem to help encourage the idea that the group of newly rich people, as well as their culture, is superior to others which is why it's okay for them to treat lower humans poorly. I have noticed it in other cultures as you have, such as the Japanese (just look at their own policies of protecting migrant workers), but no one seems to get as worked up about it because those cultures are missing the crucial word: Islam. People seem to need Islam involved to get upset over what a country is doing… if it isn't a story about a Muslim mistreating some one, it must be not as bad as it sounds, or biased, or blah and blah and blah. It doesn't matter where and what abusers are, but for the sake of a story and the person reading it, it makes a world of difference. If this had happened in a predominately Christian African country, people would have attributed it to a particular problem in that family, or a cultural hold-out from before the country had converted. Yet if it was a predominately Muslim country… I just feel that governments and people should be held responsible for their own actions, not any particular religion. Yet again, I'm not sure what people have been trying to reply to, but I do understand you, and I appreciate it.

    • 1 year ago
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  
    • Gabriele_Shone:

      Very well said. You can ignore the loony right-wing and ultra-Zionist trolls that pop up looking for these threads. We generally just ignore them. Their behavior gets more and more outrageous to get attention, though. Then we just laugh at them.

    • 1 year ago
  • Sparky2U
    • -2
      Sparky2U  

    • Fuck the Arabs. This is not the first instance I have heard of. Two Arabs were convicted and sent to prison in Florida in the last several months for abuse of a "slave". Others I have had to deal with expect us to kiss their asses for their business and try to screw us around.
      I will not deal with them in my electrical business. Once burned...screw the pricks.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
    • +1
      remanns  

    • Couldn't we just invade THAT country, with NO apologies or pretense,....and take that shit. Really. Fuck-em. We invade people for all sorts on tangential geo-perplexilogical reasons,....hey,....these guys GOTS oil,....and they ARE assholes. They treat their Mexicans,...like we tell OUR Mexicans to treat lumber on construction sites. Some of their women ARE attractive.

      And,...let me say it again,....THEY ARE ASSHOLES.

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
  • remanns
  • EdJoyProductions
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  

    • Not to identify a entire national group, but to focus just on the corrupt family and toxic ruling class of an obscenely wealthy and wholly owned "kingdom" created by British and American oil firms. It is those particular Saudi's, because of behavior very much like this toward women, have had the distinction of being the ONLY portion of ANY national group ever pointedly directed to leave the Kingdom of Thailand, and to never come back.

      Let's see that picture of George Bush kissing the King of Saudi Arabia one more time please...

    • 1 year ago
  • Sparky2U
  • Radical_Centrist
  • freecrack
  • NiceN
    • +1
      NiceN  

    • The internet is full of the atrocities that maids face when dealing with these types of service. The only pity here is that the oppressors are not often punished.

    • 1 year ago
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • EmperorThan
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • Sparky2U
    • 0
      Sparky2U  
    • MrMxyzptlk:

      This is why I buy American products. I have refused to buy from Exxon, Texaco, Shell, BP and others because they use Saudi Oil. I would rather buy it from Citgo and Chavez than these ass holes.

    • 1 year ago
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