JEDDAH, 10 September 2006 — The number of maids abused by their sponsors increases in the absence of any effective measures to prevent the abuse or to punish the abusers. The victims are usually left to beg and negotiate for their rights.

Arab News recently learned of a 31-year-old Indonesian maid who had arrived at a hospital in Riyadh on Wednesday where she is now under medical treatment suffering from severe bruising and injuries to different parts of her body. Ana bint Ata Otag escaped the house of her sponsor, M. Al-Garni, and came at the Indonesian Embassy where officials took her to hospital.

Nasser Al-Dandani, the embassy’s lawyer who has been hired for the task of following up cases such as these, told Arab News about the incident but said he did not wish to go into details. “She is accusing her sponsor’s wife of beating her severely,” said Al-Dandani.

According to the lawyer, the woman has marks on her back, shoulders and face as well as a swollen ear. “We are trying to come to an understanding with the sponsor that they pay the maid her salary for the past six months since she started working for them and which they have withheld from her. Then we want them to allow her to return to her country. He is being very cooperative and apologetic for his wife’s behavior,” said Al-Dandani.

According to Al-Dandani, the sponsor, a school deputy principal, has alleged that the maid was beating the couple’s three children and was negligent in her house chores. The man’s wife works as a teacher.

Meanwhile, the infamous and disturbing abuse case of Nour Miyati is still in the courts awaiting a decision. Arab News learned that the hearing sessions have been delayed three times because the sponsor and his wife continue failing to appear at court, something which has prompted the Riyadh Principality to issue an order to forcefully bring them to the next session.

Miyati is still being taken care of at Al-Dandani’s house where hospital nurses visit her regularly.

Miyati’s sponsor brought her to a hospital in March last year. The maid was suffering from gangrene to her fingers, toes and a part of her right foot. In addition, visible signs of abuse could be seen on the maid’s body. Doctors had to amputate some of her fingers and toes.

At first, Miyati claimed that her sponsor had tied her up for a month in a bathroom and beat her severely injuring her eyes and knocking out some of her teeth. Investigators who later questioned her without the presence of an Indonesian Embassy representative, a lawyer or a member of the National Society for Human Rights, said that she changed her testimony about the torture. She was charged with making false accusations and was put in jail for a few days after recovering a little from her wounds and amputations.

Miyati’s lawyer managed to release her under his personal guarantee and place her in his house where she remains until her case ends. In December 2005, a judge sentenced Miyati to 79 lashes for making false accusations against her sponsor and his wife but in April 2006 this sentence was reversed. Meanwhile, the sponsor was found to be innocent due to a lack of evidence against him but his wife who had admitted to beating Miyati was sentenced to 35 lashes. That sentence against the wife has not been carried out yet but addresses Miyati’s right as a victim.

“The private right of Miyati against her sponsor is still under process,” said Al-Dandani. It would be in the form of monetary compensation, after which Miyati would be allowed to return to her country.