'Tortured' maid charged by Saudis - BBC NEWS | Middle East |

BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'Tortured' maid charged by Saudis:

"There is controversy in Saudi Arabia over the treatment of a foreign maid who accused her employers of torture.

The most serious charges against the man and woman for whom she worked have now been dropped while the maid is accused of making false allegations.

The 25-year-old maid, Nour Miyati, from Indonesia was sent to hospital with gangrene saying she had been tied up for a month and left without food.

But Saudi authorities have charged her with making false allegations.
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Nour Miyati had to have several fingers amputated.

She said the Saudi couple who employed her had bound her hand and foot and left her on a bathroom floor for a month without food.

She also said the wife had accused her of dressing immodestly around the house and had beaten her with a shoe knocking out several teeth.
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Internet chatrooms reflect their belief that such abuse of domestic servants is widespread and part of a wider human rights problem in the kingdom.

Certainly being a maid in Saudi Arabia is not a low-risk occupation.

Last year, for instance, the Indonesian embassy alone received more than 800 complaints of torture.

It has asked for a fresh inquiry into the Miyati case and in the meantime is banning any new recruitment of maids from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia."