Seven nails removed from tortured Sri Lankan maid's body
Doctors have removed at least seven nails from the body of a Sri Lankan housemaid, who alleged that her Saudi employer inserted them into her body, a local media report said today.
Doctors have removed at least seven nails from the body of a Sri Lankan housemaid, who alleged that her Saudi employer inserted them into her body, a local media report said today.
A team of doctors at Kurunegala teaching hospital in northwestern province on Thursday operated on the 35-year-old Rohini Rajapksha to remove nails inserted in one of her hands and a leg.
She had told the hospital authorities that she went to Saudi Arabia to work as a house maid in December last year and returned to the country last week, Lankadeepa newspaper reported.
Two nails, about 8cm-10cm long, removed from her hand and five from the leg, the newspaper reported.
A few Sri Lankan housemaids who went to Middle East claimed recently that nails were inserted in their bodies by their landlords prompting the New York-based Human Rights Watch to urge middle eastern states to protect migrant workers' rights earlier.
The series of allegations sparked after a Sri Lankan housemaid complained that her land lord drove 24 nails into her body in August last year. Later at least two other cases were reported on nailing housemaids.
About 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70% are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East.