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[RustyNails]

This story has been making the rounds and has heightened the diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and India. First the news:

India protests after maid's arm cut off in Saudi Arabia: Foreign minister calls attack "unacceptable" and demands action against Saudi employer behind the brutal attack.

India's foreign ministry has demanded Saudi Arabia punish one of its citizens for chopping the hand off an Indian domestic worker.


Inside Story - The plight of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
In a statement published on its website on Friday, the ministry said it wanted "severe punishment" for the perpetrator of the attack on Kasthuri Munirathinam.

"As the Honourable External Affairs Minister has stated today, this brutal incident is deeply disturbing. Our Mission officials have visited Mrs Kasthuri in the hospital. Her situation is currently stable," the statement read.

India's Minister of External Affairs Shushma Swaraj called the attack unacceptable and said she was "disturbed over the brutal manner" Munirathinam had been treated.

History of abuse

A spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry confirmed that Indian diplomats in Riyadh had lodged a formal complaint against the Saudi foreign ministry.


Munirathinam, who comes from a village in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, had suffered a catalogue of abuse since taking up a post as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia three months ago, according to her family.

"Her right hand was chopped off by her employer when she tried to escape the daily harassment, torture and abysmal work conditions," her sister Vijayakumari told the AFP news agency by phone from Tamil Nadu state's capital Chennai.

Vijayakumari said that her sister had gone to Saudi Arabia to help pay off her family's debts and she had been promised a monthly salary of around $180.

"But she was not paid, she was barely given enough to eat and not even allowed to speak to her family ... Now she only wants to come home," Vijayakumari said.

The family says that problems started for Munirathinam, who was one of five domestic workers in the same household, after she complained to the local authorities about her situation.

Footage of Munirathinam lying in her Saudi hospital bed was broadcast by several Indian media outlets.

Foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup confirmed that Munirathinam was still recuperating in the Riyadh hospital but said that efforts were being made to bring her home.

"We are in touch with the woman, hospital and the local police authorities. She will get all possible legal and other help from the embassy," Swarup said.


Hundreds of thousands of Indian migrants work in households in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries but complaints about their treatment by their employers often make headlines back home.

A video showing a male Indian worker being beaten by his Saudi employer went viral in September, sparking a widespread backlash on social media.

There was also widespread anger last month when the first secretary at the Saudi embassy left India under diplomatic immunity after being accused of holding captive and raping two Nepalese maids in his home.

The Saudi response has been tepid and questioning the maid's account of what transpired. Here is Arab News:

Jumping from third story, Riyadh maid loses hand; India claims torture

er sponsor confirmed that the maid’s right hand was amputated as a result of her failed attempt to flee home by jumping from a window. He said she was recruited two months ago to serve his mother who is 70 and lives alone in an apartment in Riyadh.

“On Thursday, the housemaid went to her room while my mother was performing Asr prayer and locked herself inside. She knotted together bed sheets and some of her clothes and dangled the rope out of the window so that she could jump from the third floor. An expat worker on the street saw her trying to jump, and when she fell she landed on two electricity boxes, which caused severe damage to her hand. The worker then informed the building guard and my mother informed the police and the Red Crescent about the incident. The rescuers arrived on the scene and transferred the housemaid to the hospital where she underwent amputation surgery to her right hand,” he explained.

“The police investigated the accident and checked all the evidence at the site and concluded that the woman tried to jump from the window and fell from the third floor.”
Nautiyal said: “We took up the issue with the government of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday through diplomatic channels requesting them to record Kasturi’s statement without delay. We have also requested the government here for an independent probe.”

Warning: ArabNews has a pixelated pic of the woman lying on the ground near an electric box. Also, I only quoted the relevant bit. Make sure to read the whole article.

Tldr: The maid saying her arm was cut off by her employer as she was attempting escape from 3rd floor building. The employer is saying the maid's arm was amputated off by the doctors in a hospital as her escape failed and she fell on an electric box.

 

[andythinkpad]

Is there such thing as good Saudi news? Like some prince is footing the bill for the next World Cup or something?

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm tempted to believe the party that literally tried some prison escape shit to escape the job.

 

[Heshinsi]

The current Chair of the UN Human Rights Council ladies and gentlemen.

 

[ApharmdX]

Saudi Arabia is an American ally. Think about that, in the context of stories like this.

 

[neogaffer1]

I'm tempted to believe the party that literally tried some prison escape shit to escape the job.

i mean, their excuse is that she fell and messed up her arm during her escape, basically admitting she was trying to escape. are you kidding me?

 

[Angelus Errare]

There was this really great picture story that recounted the life of a girl who moved to india as a housemaid in order to support her family and everything she had to go through, looking for it because I think it's worth reading in regards to this thread but I can't find it and it's making me sad because it's worth reading through.

 

[Kinyou]

If her arm was amputated in the hospital there should be lots of documentation, no? Maybe some x-rays done pre-surgery?

Anyway, what always strikes me about these stories is how they even refuse to pay the workers. As if treating them like shit wasn't enough, they even have to refuse them the one thing they came for in the first place.

 

[Azih]

As someone who grew up in Saudi Arabia I completely don't buy the official word on what happened one bit.

Bastards keep the official weather forecast jusssst below 50 degrees Celsius so they don't have to give outdoor laborers a break. Inhuman evil douchebags.

 

[Killthee]

There was this really great picture story that recounted the life of a girl who moved to india as a housemaid in order to support her family and everything she had to go through, looking for it because I think it's worth reading in regards to this thread but I can't find it and it's making me sad because it's worth reading through.

Almaz's Story?

Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock tell the disturbing story of a young Ethiopian woman abused by her employers in Saudi Arabia.

 

[The Jackdog]

As someone who grew up in Saudi Arabia I completely don't buy the official word on what happened one bit.

Bastards keep the official weather forecast jusssst below 50 degrees Celsius so they don't have to give outdoor laborers a break. Inhuman evil douchebags.

thats unbelievable to me.

like turning on the weather to see its sunny only to look outside and see its pouring. its hard as shit to lie about that lol

 

[Angelus Errare]

Almaz's Story?

Yes! You rock!

 

[params7]

Saudi Arabia is an American ally. Think about that, in the context of stories like this.

Not just an ally but someone we'll help fight to gain more power in Middle East as well. See Syria.

 

[RustyNails]

As someone who grew up in Saudi Arabia I completely don't buy the official word on what happened one bit.

Bastards keep the official weather forecast jusssst below 50 degrees Celsius so they don't have to give outdoor laborers a break. Inhuman evil douchebags.

To be fair, no saudi government agency has responded other than the accused employer. However, I'm skeptical of their finding.

 

[Fusebox]

The fucking juxtaposition between the ostentatiously western SA upper class and everyone else is disgusting. I guess having slave maids helped them afford another chrome Bugatti.

 

[Purkake4]

The current Chair of the UN Human Rights Council ladies and gentlemen.

While this is awful and Saudi Arabia has an abysmal human rights record, this little tidbit gets misquoted ad infinitum. Saudia Arabia was elected to head a UNHRC panel that selects independent experts, with the approval of the council itself. The seats on the 47 seat council are proportionally distributed by region and there will be 13 countries sitting on it from the UN asian region (that includes SA) at any one time.

The "chair" (president) of UNHRC is currently Joachim Rücker from Germany

 

[Heshinsi]

While this is awful and Saudi Arabia has an abysmal human rights record, this little tidbit gets misquoted ad infinitum. Saudia Arabia was elected to head a UNHRC panel that selects independent experts, with the approval of the council itself. The seats on the 47 seat council are proportionally distributed by region and there will be 13 countries sitting on it from the UN asian region (that includes SA) at any one time.

The "chair" (president) of UNHRC is currently Joachim Rücker from Germany

Thanks for the correction.

 

[Purkake4]

Thanks for the correction.

Cheers, this is still bad symbolically, but it's not the Saudi Arabia running the UN Human Rights Council as most headlines would have you believe.

Spoiler

Also, this is the least of UNHRC's problems.

 

[titiklabingapat]

The only way for them to take these things seriously is for India to start throwing its economic weight around.