Sakina Fatima’s brother wrote to External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar complaining that she has got stranded in Saudi Arabia for several months where she is being tortured and not being allowed to return home by her employer even as her mother died
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Family members of a widow, named Sakina Fatima from Hyderabad, wrote to External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar complaining that she has got stranded in Saudi Arabia for several months where she is being tortured and not being allowed to return home even as her mother died.
In a letter to Jaishankar on Thursday, Syed Zakir Hussain, brother of Fatima, sought help from Indian consulate in Jeddah to rescue her. According to him, she has been detained in the house of one, Naseer Ghatith Al Mutairi, in Saudi Arabia’s Al Azizia 60 Haffar Al Batin.
“Due to the work pressure my sister fell ill, and as she is unable to work anymore, but her employer beats her badly with a wire (Agal). You can see red patches all over her body including private parts,” reads the letter.
Being a widow, Fatima wanted to make a living for her children as a single mother after going to the Gulf. She was approached by a local agent to get her a job in Dubai.
“She was approached by a local agent with a job offer to work as a housemaid in Dubai, UAE and offered a 1,200 Dirham, the agent said that she will be taken on a three-month visit visa and if she likes to continue the job, then her job visa as a housemaid will be made for two years,” said Hussain.
In February this year, the woman went to Dubai where she worked as a housemaid for three months, but was not paid any salary. When she asked her employer to send her back to home in Hyderabad, he demanded Rs 2 lakh for sending her back.
“As she was unable to pay the amount, the Dubai agent sold her to an Arab family in Saudi Arabia and on the pretext of sending her back to Hyderabad sent her to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in a bus on 5th May 2022 where she was kept in house for 10 days and transported to Al Aziziz-60, Haffar Al Batin and was asked to do household work and also look after the aged mother of her employer,” said Hussain.
Majlis Bachao Tahreek shared the photos of Fatima with bruises on her body that she received from the beatings. A video of her was also shared in which she is saying, “I was being beaten a lot. When I told them I don’t want to be here, they won’t listen. They are persecuting me a lot.” She breaks down in front of the camera.
She lamented that they didn’t allow her to come home even when her mother died on 11 November.
