Lankan officials seek justice for maid in nails & needles case
By MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN, ARAB NEWS
Published: Aug 27, 2010 20:06 Updated: Aug 28, 2010 00:10
RIYADH: Sri Lankan officials strongly urged authorities in Saudi Arabia on Friday to investigate and bring to justice the persons responsible for torturing L.T. Ariyawathi, a 49-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid by heating up nails and needles and pushing them into her legs, arms, hands and forehead.
The maid said the Saudi couple she worked for in a Riyadh household committed the crime as a form of punishment. The couple has not been identified and Saudi officials were not available for comment on Friday.
Lankan Justice Ministry sources told Arab News on Friday that legal counsel would be provided to the maid to file a case in Saudi Arabia over the incident.
"The Bureau (of Foreign Employment) will make all arrangements to take her to Saudi Arabia to testify," said L.K. Ruhunuge of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
The matter may also be taken up with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations, Lankan officials added.
Ariywawathi flew back to Sri Lanka last week and was admitted to Kamburupitiya Hospital in Matara district, 140 kilometers from Colombo.
Doctors in Sri Lanka removed on Friday 13 nails and five needles from the maid's body. Six needles in her hands reportedly could not be removed because the procedure would damage nerves and arteries.
Hospital Director Prabath Gajadeera said the maid has suffered injury to nerves and muscles but no damage to vital organs. The maid is in stable condition and said she feels much better without the nails and needles embedded in her flesh.
Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris met with Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Sri Lankan Abdul Rahman Al-Jammaz in Colombo on Friday to discuss the incident.
Doctors who performed the surgery have been informed to provide a medical report to the External Affairs Ministry to send to the Saudi government in order for them to take appropriate action against those responsible for the sadistic crime.
Confirming the arrangement, an official from the Labor Welfare Department at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh told Arab News that the mission will go into action once it receives the report from Colombo.
"We cannot deal with the Saudi sponsor directly," he said. "It has to be done through the Saudi foreign ministry."
According to the work contract signed by Ariyawathi, the local agent in Riyadh is Diamond Star Recruitment Bureau in Sweidi district while the Sri Lankan agent is New Diamond Star Manpower based in Colombo.
The Lankan government has reportedly forwarded testimony from the maid to Saudi authorities.
Lankan officials seek justice for maid in nails & needles case - Arab News