Two maids get 10 years, 1,000 lashes for sorcery

[doggie]

This is just crazy. You know the employer either just wanted to get out of paying them or blame them for something that went wrong in their lives and found a scape goat. No way 1000 lashes is not a death sentence. No help for these poor people.

 

 

http://www.emirates247.com/crime/region ... 0-1.507147

A Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to 10 years in jail and ordered their lashed 1,000 times each after they were found guilty of indulging in sorcery at their employers’ houses in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper reported on Monday.

 

Their Saudi employers reported the two maids to the Gulf country’s feared religious police, saying they had discovered that their families had been harmed because of sorcery practiced by the maids against them.

 

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who searched the two houses in Riyadh found talismans and other magic items in the bedrooms of the two maids, Sabq Arabic language daily said.

 

“The court found them guilty and sentenced them to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes each,†the paper said without identifying the maids or specifying the harm they caused.

 

Saudi Arabia, which strictly enforces Islamic law, has beheaded many persons convicted of practicing magic over the past years.

 

More than two million domestic servants work in Saudi Arabia, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Africa.

[moonbeam59]

What a scary read. I really wonder what the "talismans" and "other magic items" were. :roll:

[AlexIsAwake]

That is sick. Religion, in any form, is so fucking dangerous.

[Hane]

Funny how our government is strangely silent about these atrocities. But, hey, Saudi Arabia is the US's pal, what with all that handy oil.

[rene76]

This makes me nauseous! Some societies are so abusive to women.

[Anise]

Magic items- probably something like little mirrors to bring money or something like that or images from home of favorite religious icons. Those poor women. I wish the Indian, Pakistani, Indonesian, etc. governments would provide more protection for their citizens abused abroad in the Gulf states. :(

[Arete]

Those citizens are sending much needed foreign currency back to their countries, believe me, their governments are only going to put up a token resistance lest the Saudis stop issuing visas for these women to work in the KSA.

The KSA is a very dangerous place to practice any sort of religion except Islam outside the privacy of a house in a foreign compound. Even then, people who live in those compounds and work in places like the oil industry are extremely careful to NEVER go in public with religious jewlery (crosses, stars of david, any pagan symbols) or religious literature, even for their personal use. A person living with a Saudi family? A lot of Saudi households require their live in help to be Muslims, but even the lax ones could have some kind of dispute with a maid and the next day turn her over to Vice and Virtue for the praying she has been doing for years.

Dangerous, dangerous, society for non Muslims who break their rules, especially non Muslim women.

[Arete]

Funny how our government is strangely silent about these atrocities. But, hey, Saudi Arabia is the US's pal, what with all that handy oil.

The US State Department actually lists tons of travel warnings for US citizens traveling in Saudi Arabia, including a warning that in the event of a divorce, the Saudi father gets full custody of the children and that the American Embassy would be unable to interfere with Saudi law and help a mother married to a Saudi get the kids to the US from Saudi Arabia. They also list the penalties of smuggling alcohol and drugs, and give lots of examples on how you can run afoul of the law there.

As to poorer women from the 3rd world who go and work as domestics, they are desperate to provide for their families, and even warnings from their own goverments don't stop them. Religious persecution is often better than starvation in this calculus, which is a pretty sad observation of the state of the world.

[bluelady]

They're often treated poorly by the family they serve as well. I grew up with a girl who later married an Emerati. They lived in Canada for years before recently moving to the UAE. They got a maid from the Philippines, I believe. I have this woman as a friend on Facebook and every second day she's complaining about her maid. If her maid takes too long in the bathroom, doesn't speak to her employers in the proper tone, doesn't pass the white glove test (which seems to be done pretty regularly, if you ask me), the vitriol that is spewed by my "friend" all over Facebook is horrific. To the point where I have seen bitter arguments between this woman's friends in North America and her friends in the Middle East about how this domestic is being treated. My "friend" and her family are planning an extended visit back to Canada in the near future and they plan on firing the domestic when they do. They aren't telling her in advance, nor are they paying her flight back to the Philippines. From what I can understand, they plan on putting her out on the street as they leave for the airport. As in "Hey, maid, we're leaving for Canada now. You're fired. You have to leave the compound now. This second. Have fun finding your way back home!" It often turns my stomach to read what she posts.

So, I can totally see this as something that happened because of a perceived "slight" against the employer. "Oooh, you disrespect me? Fine. We'll see about that!" kinda thing.

[Rescinded and Mended]

They're often treated poorly by the family they serve as well. I grew up with a girl who later married an Emerati. They lived in Canada for years before recently moving to the UAE. They got a maid from the Philippines, I believe. I have this woman as a friend on Facebook and every second day she's complaining about her maid. If her maid takes too long in the bathroom, doesn't speak to her employers in the proper tone, doesn't pass the white glove test (which seems to be done pretty regularly, if you ask me), the vitriol that is spewed by my "friend" all over Facebook is horrific. To the point where I have seen bitter arguments between this woman's friends in North America and her friends in the Middle East about how this domestic is being treated. My "friend" and her family are planning an extended visit back to Canada in the near future and they plan on firing the domestic when they do. They aren't telling her in advance, nor are they paying her flight back to the Philippines. From what I can understand, they plan on putting her out on the street as they leave for the airport. As in "Hey, maid, we're leaving for Canada now. You're fired. You have to leave the compound now. This second. Have fun finding your way back home!" It often turns my stomach to read what she posts.

So, I can totally see this as something that happened because of a perceived "slight" against the employer. "Oooh, you disrespect me? Fine. We'll see about that!" kinda thing.

This is so awful...is there a way for you to send a message to the maid and warn her? Maybe ya'll could get together and send her some money for plane fare? This just breaks my heart, to hear about her being treated so badly.