Abused, she returns home

In June this year, she boarded a plane all the way to Saudi Arabia with a dream -- a dream to bring solvency to her family back home.

While flying high above the clouds for the first time in her life, the 30-year-old fortune seeker was trying to visualise the faces of her day labourer husband and three children, for whose future she was leaving the country.    

But little did she imagine what was awaiting her in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). After going through the horrifying experiences of torture over a couple of months, she finally returned home on Thursday -- frustrated and traumatised.    

Salma (not her real name), hailing from Bhola, was sharing the ordeal with The Daily Star correspondent on Sunday. 

She said she went to KSA through a recruiting agency following all the government procedures -- took training and got a job seeker card from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). After reaching the KSA, she was sent to work for a Saudi family consisting 12 members in Al Kasib city.

“It was okay for a week. Then, on one night, my employer crept into my room and tried to rape me. The next day, his son also tried to do the same. I resisted. Every time I resisted, they used to beat me mercilessly.”

Salma also informed the employer's wife about the abuse, but to no avail. However, having convinced the employer's wife that she needed to talk to her children back home, Salma somehow managed to talk to her husband over phone and informed him of the torture.

As she was continuously resisting, one Taslima, a Bangladeshi woman based in Tabuk city of KSA, also connected to the recruiting agency, told the employer to mount torture on her until she gives in, Salma said. 

After working there for 15 days, Salma was sent to another employer's house in Tabuk where she faced the same bitter experience. The new employer also started trying to abuse her from the third day.

“All those days, I was given one meal a day -- only two ruti [flat bread] and vegetables. I was allowed to sleep only two hours a day…” Salma could not finish her sentence.

Salma's experience at the Tabuk office of the recruiting agency is more horrible. Whenever she asked them to send her home, she was told that she could not return home as she was "sold" to the employer.

Failing to bear the torture and deprivation of food and rest, Salma fell sick and was later hospitalised at a local hospital. She then luckily met a friend of her husband's who went to the KSA three months back. The man took a photo of Salma and sent it to her husband.

Salma's husband, who was accompanying her during the conversation with this correspondent on Sunday, shared his experience how he was threatened for life by the recruiting agency when he asked them to bring his wife back home.

He then filed a general diary with Ramna Police Station mentioning the name of the recruiting agency -- Aviate International.

Frustrated, he then contacted two manpower brokers including a Saudi national, who work for the recruiting agency, for his wife's return. But they demanded Tk 4 lakh for the service.

In the meantime, Salma's husband filed applications with the consular and welfare wing of the foreign affairs ministry and the BMET for her return. He also informed the matter to Rab-1 and filed another general diary with Gulshan Police Station as the two brokers are located in Gulshan area.

At the same time, he contacted rights body Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK), which talked to the foreign ministry. 

Sheepa Hafiza, executive director of ASK, said they were following a similar case of another victim in KSA.  

When Salma's husband contacted them, they talked to the foreign ministry and requested them to bring her back.    

As the authorities arranged her return, Salma said, the recruiting agency forced her to testify in writing that she was well in Saudi Arabia, her employer was nice and that she had no objection against anyone.

Salma alleged that although she was promised 800 Saudi riyals per month, “the agency took all my belongings and sent me back empty-handed.”

Sheepa Hafiza said as there is a growing concern over the abuse of female foreign workers in KSA, the authorities concerned should properly monitor the recruiting agencies and scrutinise their job contracts. 

The embassies at the countries concerned also have a greater responsibility in safeguarding its citizens, she added.

Salma said she was able to return home for her husband's prompt actions. But there are many female workers facing the same abuse in the KSA. "Will they also be able to come home?” she questioned.