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Women brutally beaten in Saudi Arabia

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  Quote morticia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Women brutally beaten in Saudi Arabia
    Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 14:37
There are approximately 2 million women from Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia (and other countries) who are employed as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Most of them are overworked, underpaid, live in confined quarters and are subjected to verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Some are raped and others are impregnated.   In August of this year, four Indonesian women workers were seriously beaten (two of them were beaten to death) by members of a Saudi family after accusing them of performing witchcraft (practicing black magic) on the familys teenage son. Beaten to death were Siti Tarwiyah Slamet (age 32) and Susmiyati Abdul Fulan (age 28). The other two, Ruminih Surtim (age 25) and Tari Tarsim (age 27) were in the intensive care unit of Riyadh Medical Complex with serious injuries.

Although the employer has been detained, many feel that not much is going to happen to him. According to the Womens Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, not only do the authorities typically fail to investigate or prosecute abusive employers, the criminal justice system also obstructs abused workers from seeking redress. That is sooooooooo sad!

Source: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/17/saudia16699.htm
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  Quote xi_tujue Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 15:29
Thumbs%20Down just sad *shakes head*
I rather be a nomadic barbarian than a sedentary savage
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  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 16:01
Despicable.
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  Quote mamikon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 16:21
good thread, about time

Some say more than 80% of forced prostition occurs with girls from the post-Soviet Union states. Here is a Hetq documentary video on girls from Armenia (assumingly the same conditions apply to girls from Russia/Ukraine and etc...) Dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fC7KDY4sqE
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  Quote Seko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 17:05
Very disturbing practice. Their is no genuine justice when common sense is overlooked. Women doen't have recourse to shaping the law or punishing the guilty. Women can't drive or look other men in the eye without a veil. Looks like the veils in Saudi men's brains are on too tight.
 
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  Quote Al Jassas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Sep-2007 at 18:03
Well, I am a Saudi and know something or two about these domestic workers since when had more five of them during the last 16 years (large family, big house and LOTS of social events). For our part, we never ever laid a hand on a maide nor verbly abused any. Except one, all left our family at will and with rewards in addition to giving them opportunity to perform Hajj (which costs 5 times their salary) with my father paying all the costs and demanding nothing in return. All had access to telephon (the last one had a personal mobile) and worked for fixed hours and did only cleaning work. All the relatives that I know except a few did the same or even more, one of our cousins have a business partenership that lasted for over 15 years, and in many instances they call us from their countries wanting to return or switch families. However, that does not mean that domestic violence against servant does not exist or goes unpunished. A newspaper here made an investigation about women prisons an found that most occupants on death row were convicted for killing their servants and many of imprisoned women were imprisoned because of abuse.
 
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  Quote morticia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Sep-2007 at 15:31
Unfortunately for these female migrant workers, their Saudi employers (upon their arrival) routinely take their passports until the workers depart the kingdom. She is, therefore, restricted from traveling outside her place of residence and cannot leave the country of her own volition. It is my understanding that a mahram rule is used by some employers to justify locking these women employees in at night. These women are furthermore prohibited from driving (as are most women in Saudi Arabia) and cannot afford private transportation, so they are restricted to walking on the streets which brings on the fear of being apprehended by religious police and being accused of solicitation. Its a no-win situation either way!

Marital rape and domestic violence are well-known problems in Saudi Arabia, but such issues are never publicly discussed. In 2004, a television host named Rania al-Baz allowed photographs of her battered face (after being beaten and choked by her husband) to be made public. However, despite the sympathy which it evoked, said incident neither established a precedent for other women to come forward, nor change the social attitudes towards domestic violence, which only illustrates how powerful these social constraints continue to be for women. These women find it difficult to talk about their personal problems out of fear of damaging their familys honor and their own reputations. Ultimately, al-Bazs husband was sentenced to only 6 months and 300 lashes (yes, they still do that! ). However, he only served half of his sentence after working out an arrangement with her (who wanted a divorce).
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  Quote Omar al Hashim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 06:57
This is just Saudi bashing.
Its not like the events you describe are legal or go unpunished. I'm willing to bet they are much more severe crimes in Saudi Arabia than they are in the US. Would you like me to dig up some reports of domestic violence in the US and rewrite them in a manner that reflects badly on every American?
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  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 08:16
Women aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia; foreigners aren't allowed to even worship their own religion without the fear of the religious police and; adherants of any other religion or Islamic doctrine are forbidden from building houses of worship.  Can you cite any comparable instance of institutional discrimination such as those in any other part of the world, let alone America? 
 
I think when such disrespect emminates from the highest echelons of Saudi government then it is at least going to rub off on a large minority of its citizens.


Edited by Zagros - 20-Sep-2007 at 08:22
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  Quote Al Jassas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 14:30
Hello To You All
 
The problem with people who talk about Saudi Arabia is that they simply do not know anything about the country nor the situation their or the reasons for some of the laws that exist which seems to somebody outside as oppressive so I will try to explain and hope that you would understand.
 
First, Saudi Arabia is a country where the law is the exception and the exception is the law although this is being slowly solved. The are no written procedures for anything and if they exist they are guidelines not the rule. Maides and other labour come here under a joint agreement between the government of our country and the country of origin. This agreement contains some technical and legal proceedings most important of which is the minimum wage that the servants have. No agreement to my knowledge exist about work hours. If the employer wants to increase the wage, as my faher and many other people  do, it his own business. Taking the passport by the sponser of the maide or servant or any labourer for that matter from any nationality is the law because of the stupid and archaic police procedures which makes the sponser responsible for anything the labourer that he sponsers do. Because it is so easy to escape the country legally, you only need to have your passport and no background checks on you are usually done, if you commit a crime and you have your passport you will getaway easily. This lead to huge problem so passports are held and instead a card of legal residence is issued for your own, your employer has no right to withheld that card and it has the same power as the passport. Confining female servants into the house is for their own safety and for the safety of the community. There are over 2 million illegal aliens in Saudi arabia and every year 300 000 are caught every year trying to cross the borders from our southern neighbour. The black market in saudi arabia in prostitution, self employment, drugs, smuggling and many other areas is very large and profitable and it is mostly handled by these usually runaway servants and the sponser of the runaway female servant is in deep trouble especially if she is caught in prostitution thats why they are confined in the house. Also, these servants do not have the means to pay rent (yearly salary is 10 000, cheapest flat is 10 000) and female living alone is unheard of and socially unacceptable thats why they live inside their employers houses in seperate rooms of their own like the family (our's had the largest bedroom in the house especially made for them with an air conditioner and heaters).
 As for non muslims worshipping, well, first lets deal with those who say the should be killed without discrimination then we can talk about worship which they can do privately. And there is no such thing as religious police, these are government sponsered volunteers who in my neighbourhood were responsible for catching 70% of criminals caught in 1999. In my old roomate's neighbourhood, a mostly black slum and the most notorious neighbouhood in Riyadh, drugs almost dissapeared from there when they opened an office and prostitution became a thing of the past and yet, most of the people responsible for these events were never prosecuted because the religious police covered for them when they promised to become good and they did. Some of the most notorious street gang leaders are now full time volunteers in the force they once hated.
 
The picture above in not all roses, there is a lot of abuse of authority by the committee for the promotion of virtue but alot of these are beig solved and changing attitudes of a 50 year independent institution is nothing simple but the fruit is already coming. Also, lots of abuse towards women and children exist and unfortunately the solution is coming little by litte because these attitudes are enshrined in society. In Gazan for example public circumcission for 15 year old boys still exist even after 80 years of some of the most sever punishments (at one time hand were cut off for people who do such a thing). Recent legistlations have been enacted and on their way to being inforced but this takes time ad hopefully sad cases like the horrible murders above will be something of the past.
 
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 14:40
I would say that abusses on illegal immigrants happens not only in Saudi Arabia, but in Japan, Europe, the U.S., Mexico and everywhere. I don't know if there are statistics for it, but illegal immigrants are more likely to suffer assaults, rape or murder than any other group of human society. I could bet on that.
 
 
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  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 14:44
Originally posted by pinguin

I would say that abusses on illegal immigrants happens not only in Saudi Arabia, but in Japan, Europe, the U.S., Mexico and everywhere. I don't know if there are statistics for it, but illegal immigrants are more likely to suffer assaults, rape or murder than any other group of human society. I could bet on that.
 
 
 
That is very true.
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  Quote morticia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 15:34
Originally posted by Omar al Hashim

This is just Saudi bashing.Its not like the events you describe are legal or go unpunished. I'm willing to bet they are much more severe crimes in Saudi Arabia than they are in the US. Would you like me to dig up some reports of domestic violence in the US and rewrite them in a manner that reflects badly on every American?


Omar, it is not my intention to bash anyone or any country and I'm sorry if you interpret it as such. The purpose of a woman's forum is to bring awareness of what women around the world are subjected to on a daily basis, and Saudia Arabia is no exception. I've written about physical abuse suffered by women in many parts of the world, including the U.S. Physical abuse of a woman should not be well taken by anyone anywhere in the world! I don't care if it's traditional/cultural, whatever - it is just simply WRONG.




Edited by morticia - 20-Sep-2007 at 15:37
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2007 at 15:52
Originally posted by Zagros

Originally posted by pinguin

I would say that abusses on illegal immigrants happens not only in Saudi Arabia, but in Japan, Europe, the U.S., Mexico and everywhere. I don't know if there are statistics for it, but illegal immigrants are more likely to suffer assaults, rape or murder than any other group of human society. I could bet on that.
 
 
 
That is very true.

And that while the general public in all countries sees them as perpetrators of crime instead of victims, tragic.
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  Quote Omar al Hashim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Sep-2007 at 21:27
Originally posted by Zagros

Women aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia; foreigners aren't allowed to even worship their own religion without the fear of the religious police and; adherants of any other religion or Islamic doctrine are forbidden from building houses of worship.  Can you cite any comparable instance of institutional discrimination such as those in any other part of the world, let alone America?

I'm only referring to servant abuse
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  Quote bgturk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-Nov-2007 at 20:58
Originally posted by morticia

Unfortunately for these female migrant workers, their Saudi employers (upon their arrival) routinely take their passports until the workers depart the kingdom.


This is actually also practiced by human trafickers in Europe. Many Bulgarian teenage girls are tricked into going to Europe for a well-paid job, however, upon arrival they are forced into prostitution with all their identity documents taken by their captors.
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  Quote SuN. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Nov-2007 at 06:09
Passports are collected from all workers in the gulf. The situation in the whole of gulf is pathetic, though in Saudi it is worst as it is ruled by a despot.
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  Quote Omar al Hashim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Nov-2007 at 10:26
Apart from Iran, which gulf state isn't ruled by a despot?
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-May-2008 at 06:55

Women are to be kissed and loved not beaten, except the ugly and bitchy ones, lol.

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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-May-2008 at 07:19
Originally posted by Platoriental

Women are to be kissed and loved not beaten, except the ugly and bitchy ones, lol.

 
Hey grow up, that's not in good taste.
 
Back on topic. I just read this today:
 
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